Mass Inferno
by AzureSpider
Summary: An AU in which Shepard is revived successfully after making a literal deal with the devil to be reborn, but with dire consequences for him and his allies. Now the crew of the Normandy, tired, exhausted, and on their last legs from the recent Suicide Mission, have to survive the legions of hell and a few other surprises as they are forced to go through the nine circles. Shep/Miranda
1. Prologue: The Deal

**Author's Note: This here is a crossover idea that I'd been entertaining doing for a while now. Since learning a great deal more about Dante's Inferno, both the original poem and the video game adaptation, I decided that the time had come to finally do this crossover. Now first off I'm going to stress that this story has elements of both the Dante's Inferno video game **_**and **_**the epic poem. It does not fully adhere to either one but rather takes information from both, with some of my own ideas thrown in for good measure. With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy my crossover.**

Prologue: The Deal

So slow and agonizingly painful was Shepard's demise that in all truth he wasn't sure _when _exactly his end finally came. Was it five minutes after being ejected out of the Normandy as it was destroyed? Ten? Twenty? Shepard didn't know. What he _did _know however was that the pain did eventually come to an end along with his life, but what followed next was a lot harder to describe and also to recollect.

The first thing Shepard remembered seeing was a bright light, brighter than any other he had ever seen but as he was dead he could now no longer be blinded by the flare. What followed after that was impossible for him to describe even if he tried, as for a few brief moments he experienced a different state of being that could not be compared to a mortal life in the physical world. The closest word to describe it would be bliss. Just pure, unadulterated bliss that would never end but was also no more immortality as most thought of it than infinite nothingness would be. No, it was something else entirely, beyond mortal comprehension.

But then as quickly as it had come the feeling disappeared and Shepard felt mortal once more.

Only he still wasn't alive.

Instead he found himself alone in a seemingly empty, never-ending expanse of blackness that made the vast space of the cosmos look like the brightest place ever by comparisn. For here there were no stars, or planets, no incredible sights to be seen. Just a vast, empty void of infinite nothingness. Oblivion.

"Not much to see here is there?" came a voice from beyond the blackness. Shepard instinctively turned to where he thought the voice was but quickly realized that it was a pointless gesture on his part. The voice, he soon found, was coming from everywhere at once, echoing as if they were in an enclosed space rather than a void.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked. The words sounded flat and lifeless and his jaw felt heavy and tired just uttering them.

Nevertheless, his basic question had gotten a response, namely a small column of fire appearing in the center of the blackness but also doing nothing to provide illumination to the surroundings. Once the flames cleared there stood a man with skin the color of bronze and hair the color of gold. His lips were stretched into a smile and his blue eyes seemed to have lit up with excitement for whatever reason. He dressed modestly enough, wearing a white suit not unlike what Ambassador Udina always wore, at least whenever Shepard had seen him.

"Hello there. Just thought I'd pull you in here so we could talk"

"I'm...dead aren't I?" Again, the words sounded flat, lacking the usual things that made Shepard's voice his own. Instead it sounded like one of the VIs on the Citadel giving out basic instructions to passerby.

"Oh yes very much so. Dead as dead can possibly be in point of fact. Those Reapers really weren't messing around where they?" the man chuckled.

"The Reapers? They attacked the Normandy?"

"Well, not exactly no. Friends of theirs did. Either way, you've got enemies in high places (but you didn't hear that from me)"

"What do you want? What is this place?"

"This place? This is a sort of 'getaway' spot of mine whenever I want some peace and quiet. Things can get kind of tedious where I am you see. To answer your first question, what I want is to offer a...proposal. A sort of deal"

"Proposal..." the man's words were cryptic, but almost instinctively Shepard was able to discern their meaning, and his eyes widened when the truth dawned on him. "Wait a minute...are you…?"

"The Devil?" The man's grin grew even wider than before. "How did you guess?" he outstretched a hand. "I am Lucifer the Morningstar, once Archangel now ruler of the Inferno"

Shepard didn't take the hand being offered to him, and if Lucifer was at all upset or offended by this he didn't show it. Instead he lowered his hand and said slyly: "And of course I know who _you _are: the great Commander Virgil Shepard, first human SPECTRE, savior of the Citadel, and slayer of the Reaper Sovereign. Quite a resume if I do say so myself. Pity it got you killed, especially when the galaxy is in _desperate _need of your continued presence"

"The Reapers you mean. They'll come back won't they?"

Lucifer's grin and expression became markedly more wicked as he replied in a tone that matched it: "Oh yes they'll come back alright. In such force you can't even _begin _to comprehend. And without a certain iconic figure who could convince the species of the universe to work together well...let's just say the realms above and below will be getting quite a few new arrivals in one sitting"

"And what do you have to offer that can prevent that?" Shepard asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I can bring you back from the dead"

"Just like that?"

"Well, here's the thing: there are certain...'interested parties' in your world who even as we speak have recovered your body and are now trying to bring you back. They'll fail of course. Their science may have come far in the past few centuries but you just can't change nature...barring a few exceptions of course" again Lucifer's lips formed into a grin, this one the kind of look a fox had right before devouring a hapless flock of chickens.

"So you could bring me back from the dead instead?"

"Yes, and to those who are trying to revive you right now it will seem that they succeeded. No one will ever be the wiser and you'll be able to save the galaxy from those nasty oversized cephalopods. Whaddya say?"

"I'm not an idiot. There's a catch isn't there?"

"Heh, heh, good. You're not as dumb as the last thirty people I did this with" With a snap of his bronze colored fingers Lucifer produced a parchment and quill. He handed both to Shepard. "Read it through if you want. The contract basically says that if you die in battle after being resurrected I claim your soul."

"I figured as much" Shepard said, reading over the contract and finding that it reiterated what Lucifer had just said. "Sounds like I run quite the risk"

"Oh true, but if you don't take it the whole galaxy burns. And would you, the great and noble Commander Shepard really allow that to happen? I always took you as more the...messianic type" Lucifer chuckled at his own poor joke before taking back the contract and quill. "So what do you say? Is it a deal?"

"I don't know...if I die the galaxy is doomed anyway and all I get out of it is a trip to hell...but if I do take you up on your offer there's at least the chance I can save everyone...or I can take a third option: and that's let the people trying to revive me try their hand at bringing me back without your help"

Lucifer burst out laughing. "Oh come now do you _really _think they'll be able to bring you back? Your physical body's just meat and tubes now. There's hardly anything left _to _bring back. And even if they reconstruct your body they can't put your soul back in...only _I _can do that. Without that you'll be little more than an automaton, completely bereft of the charm, charisma, nobility, and all those other insipid things that make you who you are. Oh certainly you'll be able to fight for them, but that will be about it. And those scientists who tried and failed to revive you? Heh, they'll be cut loose...along with their throats. A shame really. One of them's quite a pretty thing. Would be sad to see her die for you…"

"You're trying to guilt me into taking your offer" Shepard noted before adding: "Playing off of my sense of ethics and desire to protect people to convince me that I have to take the risk...you're good"

Lucifer smiled. "I've been doing this since before the first early Protheans crawled out of their caves. I know my way around. So: deal or no deal?"

Shepard considered. He knew that no deal with the devil he could make could possibly end in any way that would be to his benefit. The devil had no doubt inserted some kind of loophole or technicality into his contract to allow him to get the better of Shepard, either immediately after he signed it or somewhere later down the line.

But if he didn't take that risk he took another, namely that the people in his world would indeed fail to bring him back, and then without him the galaxy would never be able to adequately unite itself against the Reaper threat, at which point the Repaers would do what they had done several times before: cleanse the galaxy of all life they deemed to be too advanced to continue living. And that was something Shepard simply could not allow.

But that didn't mean he was going to just jump blindly into an obviously bad deal.

"Can you show me what's happening in the world right now? I want to see them try to bring me back before I sign your contract"

Lucifer frowned as Shepard said this. "You really do know how to take all the risk out of a gamble. Shame on you. But I suppose if you're so desperate to see your own corpse, why don't you just take a peek over here…"

And as he said this the Devil stepped to the side, as he did revealing a window-sized circular hole in the void through which Shepard was able to see what was currently transpiring, and also what had already happened following his death.

He saw what had happened to those of his crew that had survived: Liara had set herself up as some kind of information broker on Illium, and seemed to be absorbed completely into work of some unknown nature but clearly high importance.

Wrex had returned to his homeworld to try and at last unite the Krogans under one banner as all the while he fought tooth and nail to give his people a future. Tali too had returned to her people, being hailed as a hero before being sent off to another planet before she had spent hardly any time back home.

But it was Garrus whose fate was of the most note to Shepard. Apparently the Turian had gone to Omega and was waging some kind of war with the criminals who resided there. And along the way he gathered allies from all walks of life to help him, much as Shepard himself had done in his hunt for Saren.

The fates of Kaidan and the rest of the crew were of no surprise to Shepard: they had simply been reassigned by the Alliance and carried on as was, no doubt trying to put what had happened behind them to the best of their ability. The only noteworthy things Shepard saw was how apparently Kaidan was being sent out to the outer colonies beyond Alliance borders, and how Joker was the one Alliance man who was nowhere to be found...

And then there was Shepard himself.

Lucifer had not been exaggerating when he said Shepard was now just meat and tubes. So repulsive was the sight of what his body had been reduced to that Shepard could only look at it for a second before turning away in disgust. From the other side of the beyond he could hear various voices frantically shouting out orders and status reports, none of which sounded good.

Then the scene begin to shift and to change before Shepard's eyes, and slowly but surely his body began to look like a body again. Skin returned to cover the flesh, limbs were regrown, bones repaired. Soon Shepard's body looked in many respects like it had never been through any kind of harm at all.

And yet the final parts of the procedure lagged behind. Shepard could see that for all of their reconstructing him cell by cell, bone by bone, their attempts to bring life back into him were simply not working. Like Frankenstein if the beast had never awoken from it's operating table.

And if Shepard did awake, he had the deep fear that Lucifer's prediction was correct: that if Shepard was revived successfully he would not be himself. Merely an empty shell that could do nothing more than follow basic commands like any synthetic but lacking in the things that made him who he was. And of course that would be a waste. In the time it was taking to bring him back, they could have raised a dozen armies. But they already had soldiers. They needed a leader. And a re-animated corpse without a soul was no leader.

Shepard turned back to face Lucifer, who bore a proud grin of superiority on his bronze face as he held out the contract and quill. "Tick-tock commander. Time is running out. What is your decision?"

Shepard stared at the contract and then at Lucifer. "Can you promise that when I come back I'll be me as I was? No demonic presence or any other sign that you were involved?"

"Of course. When you wake up it will be as if you had never left the mortal world. Guarantee it. In fact, I'll shake on it." Again, Lucifer outstretched a hand. Shepard eyed it with a wary look before at last taking it. To his surprise it felt not burning hot as he would have imagined but rather the very opposite. Cold as ice.

"Excellent. So yes, you'll come back free of my influence, not a devil's mark to be had. Assuming of course you sign your name here"

"In blood I take it?" Shepard asked.

"Of course. But I'll make it simple for you: just take the quill and write. No cutting necessary"

Skeptical but nevertheless complying, Shepard took the quill and wrote his name on it. As he did he felt his other hand cry out in pain as if a knife blade had slashed across it. And sure enough, the letters that showed up were blood red.

"Excellent. The deal is sealed" And then with a chuckle and a snap of his fingers, Lucifer disappeared along with the void and Shepard again was assailed with a bright light, but this time it was not the light of eternal bliss but rather the first light of waking up.

And it was then that Commander Shepard returned at last.


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Hell

Chapter 1: Welcome to Hell

**Two Months Later**

She had been the first thing he had seen upon waking up from death, and she was the first thing he saw upon waking up now.

Shepard smiled as he saw Miranda's face, her close proximity to him highlighting her already considerable beauty. Her long dark brown hair, normally kept fairly neat save for a loose lock or two was now a good deal messier on the account of her extended sleep and also their...other activities the night before.

Extending a hand Shepard caressed Miranda's face, and trailed his fingers down to her chin. Feeling him, Miranda moaned softly which made Shepard's heart race. She was so intoxicating to him sometimes, and now that they had fully admitted their feelings to one another his attraction to her had exploded into an incredibly passionate love. He would never let her go.

Miranda opened her eyes slowly but surely. She smiled upon seeing Shepard. "Mmm..good morning Virgil"

"Good morning Miranda. Sleep well?"

"Considering it's the first time I've slept more than seven hours in a good long while I'd say yes I did" Miranda said, her smile widening. "I must say _commander _for someone who had just survived a suicide mission you were a _remarkable _partner in bed. Perhaps the stress is good for something after all"

"I don't think it's that Miranda" Shepard replied with a naughty smile. "I think it's just that I enjoy being on top of you"

Miranda chuckled. "If I remember Virgil _I _was dominant for most of our last session"

"You think that Miri if it gives you comfort"

"Arse"

"Temptress" As Shepard said this he ran his fingers down the magnificent curves of her body before unexpectedly pulling her closer to him and pressing his lips up against hers. Miranda moaned deeply as he did, which only served to make him even more aroused than he already was.

When their lips parted, Miranda took in a deep breath before saying: "Shepard, I think we both know that we could spend the whole day in bed together, but unfortunately we do also have work to do, especially since we just came back from the Collector Base…"

Shepard nodded. "Yeah. Lots of work to be done. Too bad. I was enjoying our quality time"

Miranda smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Mmm...I really did do damn good work when I brought you back"

"Right…" Shepard neglected to tell Miranda that she had not, in fact resurrected him. A literal deal with the Devil had done that. But she _had _reconstructed his body from the ground-up, so he supposed she wasn't completely off either.

Nevertheless, remembering the deal he had made caused Shepard to do what he almost always did when his mind wasn't fixated on something else: worry over that very same deal that had brought him back in the first place. Shepard wasn't a fool. He knew full well that the devil would come to collect at some point or another, even if Shepard continued to cheat death on the many battlefields he fought on across the galaxy. There was simply no escaping it. And needless to say, thinking about that only made Shepard become consumed with a sense of melancholy. He had condemned himself, and he could only hope that he would at least spare the galaxy from being dragged down with him. At least he might have that consolation.

But of course even with that there was another matter, namely that Shepard would never see his friends, family, or the woman he loved ever again. He would spend an eternity separated from them. Except for maybe Zaeed.

Shepard allowed himself a smile at his own dark sense of humor as he thought this, all the while getting dressed along with Miranda. The two shared another kiss before exiting his quarters and taking the elevator down to the main level. Once the doors opened and they stepped out, the pair decided that the first order of business was to call together a meeting with the rest of the team to get a status report and update on how everything was going. So it was that Shepard gave the order for the whole team to meet him and Miranda in the briefing room, and one by one they all filed in.

"Alright people, I know we've all been through a lot lately and I just wanted to personally congratulate all of you on the tremendous job you did at the Collector Base. You all pulled through and I appreciate that a lot. More than I can express actually. Just know that I'm glad I had you all watching my back"

"Yeah, yeah" Jack said. "I'm getting the warm fuzzies really. Please tell me this isn't just you giving us all a pat on the back because if it is I'm leaving"

"I second that" Zaeed said.

"No, it's not. I want to know how everything's doing. I know that mission was hard for us all and I want to make sure everyone's holding up well"

"I am in as good a condition as I have ever been" Samara said in her usual serene tone. "The battle was very taxing, but I am now fully rested and recovered"

"How can that be?" Jack asked in disbelief. "All you did was spend all night meditating or something"

"And that was enough" Samara replied simply. "I would suggest you attempt it yourself Jack. It could help ease your pain, both physical and emotional"

"No offense but the 'space-buddha' stuff ain't for me. I think I'll stick to what I'm best at"

Samara said nothing in response. If it had been over a month ago when Jack had been first recruited her response would have been far worse, so everyone present just took it as a sign that Jack was getting "better" even if she did a poor job of showing it.

"I am also fully recovered and operating at peak efficiency" Miranda said, even though Shepard already knew this to be true. Had to keep up appearances though. Most of the others were still ignorant to Shepard and Miranda's relationship and certainly to the fact that they were sleeping with one another.

"Unfortunately not doing as well" Mordin confessed. "Leg and back injuries from fight against Human Reaper Larvae not yet fully healed. Also admit to spending more time healing other's injuries rather than tending to my own" Mordin made a sheepish grin as he said this. "Knew Chakwas was weak, could not do it all by herself. Needed to help"

"Well that was considerate of you Mordin but you should still make sure to take care of yourself too. You're no good to anyone dead or gravely injured"

Mordin nodded but also brushed it off. "Of course, of course. Don't worry commander. Still able to fight and perform research and medical duties. Always here if you need me"

"I also am still not quite at my best" Garrus admitted. "Caught a lot of shots during the fight, I think my armor's almost toast by this point. Probably time to let the old girl go"

"I can set you up with a new suit" Jacob said, who for his part still bore a black eye from where a Collector had struck him. "As for me, I've been better but I've been worse. And the good news is I've been taking stock of our loadout since the battle. Still as good as before in that we've still got all our weapons working and filled with ammo, though we obviously don't have as many thermal clips now that the Suicide Mission's done. Let's try and avoid any more excitement until we restock. And if we _do _get into more trouble, which, knowing us we probably will, try to conserve ammo"

Jack smiled at this. "Fine by me. I prefer using biotics to blow dumb fuckers up anyway"

Jacob shook his head at the convict's bloodlust but said nothing. Legion was next to give his report: "This unit is operating at peak efficiency. All 1,183 platforms are operational"

"I'm good" Grunt said bluntly before making a wicked grin as his eyes lit up with an unsettling flash of brutality: "That fight at the bug base was god-damned glorious. You should have seen us hold the line Shepard"

"I can speak to that" Zaeed said. "Crazy krogan was a bloody monster on that field. Me, I feel sore and beat, but then I always feel like that, so I'm good if we gotta fight again"

"Doing great Shep" Kasumi said with a thumbs up. "I never want to do anything like that Suicide Mission again, but I'm feeling swell as is"

"I don't think _any _of us want to go through that again" Tali pointed out. "My suit looks to have held up during the battle Shepard. No significant damage to it that I can see so I think I'm good too"

That just left Thane. "As you all know my illness continues to ravage my body. But I also know my body's strength. My sickness has not robbed me of my ability to fight. Not yet. However I have been left fairly exhausted from our most recent battles. I would prefer to have some peace and quiet if only for a while"

"Understood" Shepard said with a nod. "And with any luck we'll all be able to get some much deserved R&R. Dismissed"

As Shepard said this, everyone else filed out of the room, and afterwards Shepard went out onto the main deck to check on the crew there. No sooner was he there though did Kelly Chambers call him over. "Commander, you have a new message at your private terminal"

"Oh thanks Kelly" Shepard said, walking over to check. Sure enough, there was a message from Admiral Steven Hackett asking him to go to Arathot for something incredibly important. Knowing that as it was the first time Hackett had contacted him since his resurrection it must be important, Shepard had the Normandy set course for that area of space.

Only when they went through the nearby mass relay they got far more than they bargained for.

As the Normandy surged through the bluish tunnel that represented faster-than-light travel through space as assisted by a Mass Relay, the ship began to shake violently, prompting Shepard to go up to the cockpit and ask Joker about it.

"I don't know commander the ship's just going crazy, like it was shot or something. But everything seems to be working fine…"

Then, as the Normandy continued to shake violently, the blue tunnel turned a bright fiery orange before the crew's eyes, transforming it into a tunnel of fire.

"Joker, what's happening?" Shepard demanded.

"I don't know Commander I've never seen anything like this before! No one has!"

As Joker continued to frantically look over the controls and the rest of his cockpit to make sure everything was working and also trying desperately to figure out what was happening, a deep, bellowing chuckle could be heard by all before every single person on the Normandy cried out in pain and sank to their knees, as if daggers had been punched through their skulls. Even Legion's hardware and programs felt pain.

As Shepard and everyone else looked on, they could see the fire orange tube begin to turn brilliant red as fires lined the sides of the tube, flames that rose up to surround the entire ship and all on board could feel themselves sweating inside and out despite the Normandy's heat-shielding. It was as if they had rocketed into a sun. Indeed, many on board the Normandy feared that that was exactly what was happening, that by some stroke of misfortune the Mass Relay's coordinates had failed them and sent them into a sun by mistake.

Only the reality of it was much worse.

When the Normandy at last came out of the burning tunnel it was confronted with a massive dark cavern that featured a never-ending lake of dark colored water with the land surrounding it being lined with torches burning brightly. As the Normandy struggled to maintain it's flight, the ship's crew could see bodies wreathed in fire falling incessantly like burning rain before landing into the waters and then swimming to shore where they gathered in a massive throng.

"Where the hell are we?" Joker asked. Shepard however, already knew the answer.

"He's come to collect…"

The same deep, echoing chuckle as before could be heard, only this time words followed it: "Hell indeed mortal. For hell is precisely where you all are now" Then, in a bright flash of light, Lucifer appeared, now with large bat wings extended.

"What the shit?" Joker exclaimed, reeling back in his seat at the bizarre sight all on the bridge could see, and everyone else could plainly hear, no matter where on the ship they were.

"Hello again Commander Shepard. It's been a while since our last meeting. I do _so _hope you had a fun time after our deal, because now as you can probably surmise, I'm here to collect my prize...or prizes as it were."

"I didn't die in battle" Shepard shot back. "You can't take my soul"

"True, but you see, I neglected to mention one of the other parts of the contract you signed, namely that in the event that I _didn't _acquire your soul, I would get to have one of the souls of someone close to you in exchange. Since all of the options look _so _appealing and it's really hard to choose, I thought I'd just send you _all _to hell and see which of you I like the best."

"Is this for real?" Joker asked, turning to Shepard. "I mean, I never really bought much into god, heaven, hell, and stuff like that. But are we really _**in hell **_right now?"

"Well actually you're floating above the river Acheron" Lucifer corrected. "It's the entrance into hell proper. Normally you have to take the Ferry, but since you already have a vessel I figured why micromanage?"

"We're not going anywhere" Shepard growled. Lucifer chuckled. "You presume you have a choice commander."

And then, before anyone realized what was happening the Normandy was struck by a powerful force that slammed into the ship's bottom as hard as it could, sending it spiraling forward and then crashing into the water. As the Normandy landed and sent up a tidal wave of dark colored liquid flying in all directions, a ferocious ear-splitting roar could be heard followed by the sound of it's source diving back under the waves.

"Ah Leviathan. Always there when you need him" Lucifer chuckled. "In case you were wondering he just took out your ship's ability to fly, which means you'll be sailing down the river and into my home very soon. Enjoy the trip" Lucifer cackled wickedly before the laughter faded, leaving the Normandy crew to grapple with the magnitude of what had just transpired.

"Alright, I need a status report of the ship and crew. Miranda, see how everyone's doing and get any wounded to Mordin and Chakwas.

"Yes commander" Miranda said with a salute before heading off to assess the situation. As she did Joker turned to Shepard: "Uh, Commander, I'm pretty sure over half the crew is dealing with some serious life-altering stuff right now. I mean, we all just learned that Hell actually exists...and that apparently we're all damned. Go figure"

"No, that's not it. This is just one of Lucifer's games. And we have no choice but to play it for him"

"What does he even want with you anyway?" Joker asked. "And with us?"

"It's...a long story. And honestly one I should tell to everyone at once"

-X-

Leviathan's ramming into the Normandy and causing it to crash into Archeon had killed almost a dozen members of the crew and left just as many in various states of injury, including Kelly Chambers, Sarah Patel, Vadim Rolston, and others. Kasumi, Jacob, and Tali were also recuperating and Chakwas and Mordin were pressed almost past the breaking point having to bounce around between so many different people. Even worse, the sick-bay's medical resources were now being stretched thin following both this and the Suicide Mission just the day before, and Chakwas and Mordin both feared that if more injuries were to follow they might not have enough medical supplies to deal with all of them.

All other members of the Normandy Crew, including those of Shepard's squad who weren't now in the sick-bay as well, were assembled in the main deck where Shepard decided to put all his cards on the table.

"Alright, I know we've all just been through events that I think I can say none of us ever thought would actually happen, and as such I'm not sure what I can tell you that would make things better. So I think I'll just go with a confession. Namely that I made a deal with the devil"

"You what?" Miranda asked incredulous. "Shepard what are you talking about?"

"As you all know, I died two years ago. When I did, I was approached by the devil. He offered to resurrect me if I signed a contract with him. The contract said that if I were to die in battle he could get my soul. But apparently it also said that if he didn't get my soul he could get one of yours instead. _Any_ one of yours."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Miranda protested. "The Lazarus Project…"

"Wouldn't have worked" Shepard said sadly. "I saw it beyond the veil. You could reconstruct my body, but you weren't able to make me _alive _again. And even if you could have, you wouldn't have been able to put my soul back into my body. And without me, the Reapers would have invaded our galaxy and the Collectors would have won before that. I had no choice but to make the deal"

"And now we're all in hell suffering for it!" one crewman said accusingly, followed swiftly by several more angry cries and shouts of condemnation before an annoyed Grunt fired his shotgun into the air, which caught everyone's attention.

"All of you shut up" the Krogan growled. "Shepard brought us all together and saved your hides. You owe him every last drop of blood in your bodies"

"Look, I'm sorry I got all of you into this. I had no idea Lucifer would do something like this. Now that he has I promise you we _will _get out of here. All of us. I'm not letting anyone on this ship stay in hell for eternity"

"That's a lovely sentiment commander" Zaeed said sarcastically. "But how in the bloody fucking hell do you plan on getting us out of here when our ship can't fly and we've got to deal with the devil himself? Somehow I don't think your standard bullets are going to do the job"

"I killed a Reaper and wiped out their elite footsoldiers. I took you all on a Suicide Mission and brought every last one of you back alive. If I can do all of that, I know I can find a way to get us out of here, especially if you all stay at my side"

"Why should we?" Jack demanded angrily. "It was you making that fucking stupid deal that's gotten us all in here!"

"And it was _also _Shepard who brought us all together and led us to victory against monsters that were kidnapping and killing thousands of people" Garrus pointed out. "Grunt's right. We've followed Shepard into some pretty bad places before, and when we trusted him, we all got out in one piece. I don't see any reason why that should change now"

"I still don't see why I should trust you again" Jack snarled. "What makes you worth trusting anymore?"

"Look at it this way Jack, and everyone else right now who wants to hand me over to Lucifer on a silver platter: if we _don't _work together than we're all stuck here in hell forever. But if we work together the way we did on the Collector Base, then we have a chance. And isn't a chance better than none, no matter how small it is?"

"You are ever the optimist' Thane Krios noted, but then adding: "...but the actions you have revealed to us are troubling. My people too have a being like this Lucifer in our religions. And we know better than to make bargains with him. You too should have known better"

"I had no choice Thane. I couldn't risk all sentient life in the galaxy being wiped out by the Reapers!"

"You should have trusted me and the others at Lazarus to revive you!" Miranda snapped, blinking back tears as she glared angrily at Shepard. "You should have trusted us to succeed! I put two years of my life into bringing you back Shepard! And apparently it was all a waste!"

"That's not true Miranda"

"Isn't it? Obviously you didn't need me to bring you back, or anyone else for that matter. You just needed the devil!" No sooner had she finished her sentence did Miranda turn around and storm off, leaving Shepard feeling worse than he ever had before since coming back. As the others watched Miranda leave for her office, Jack couldn't help but remark: "I think that's the most angry I've ever seen the cheerleader" Jack smiled. "I should be taking notes for the next time I want to push her buttons"

"This is serious Jack" Shepard said. "Miranda just needs some time to cool off. I think we all do. And I stand by what I've said: I am getting us all through this. This is my fault, and I'm going to make up for it. I promise"

"I would like to keep faith with you Shepard" Thane said "But I'm afraid that your actions and their consequences have challenged that faith. I will not condemn you just yet, but I am not certain I am ready to forgive you in full either"

"I suppose that's better than the alternative" Shepard conceded before turning to everyone else. "And the rest of you? Will you follow me now? Because I need you all at my side now just as much as I did against the Collectors"

"I'm with you" Grunt said with a nod. "As I said on Tuchanka, you have no match. Let this devil throw his worst at us. I'll piss on their bones and his"

"Good to know. What about you Samara?"

"As you know Shepard my Justicar code mandates that I see things in black and white. You made a deal with the personification of evil itself, and though I understand your reasons for doing so I would still normally be required to visit justice upon you. But as I am still bound by my oath of loyalty to you, you can expect no grievance with me. Not even in this place"

"Alright then. I already know what Jack thinks. Zaeed?"

"Well, the way I see it, I was probably going to be heading here anyway with everything I've done, so honestly I barely give a shit. If you can buy me some extra time before I get sent here anyway then whoopde-doo. But otherwise I'm just getting to pay some of my old associates a visit sooner rather than later"

"I suppose that's not the worst response I've could have gotten" Shepard conceded. His gaze turned to Legion, the Geth sniper being the only other member of the crew present. Shepard figured the others would all no doubt have their own choice words for him later on.

"We are well aware of the Christian concept of Hell as described in both the New Testament Bible and epic poem Inferno written by Dante Aligheiri. Prior to unexpected arrival we did not have sufficient data to confirm or deny the existence of this location in reality. Now that we do we predict a high probability of this Hell being similar if not identical to the Hell as described in human works. If so, this unit does not predict high odds of successful escape or survival"

"You heard the Geth!" Another crewman shouted. "We're doomed to burn forever in here! And it's all your f-" the man was cut off by Grunt grabbing him and picking him up with one arm. "Why don't you stop right there before I take your tongue out?" Grunt threatened. When the man said nothing in response, Grunt set him back down.

"I stand by what I've already said. I'm getting us all out of here. Just know though that the more of you who choose to stand against me, the harder it will be for me to do this. So I need as many of you backing me up as I can"

"Well I'm with you Shepard' Garrus said. "And from the looks of it so are Grunt, Samara, and Zaeed."

"I will assist you as well" Thane Krios added. "Forgiveness I may be withholding for now, but not my skills as a fighter"

"Good to know. I'll talk to the others once they're out of the med-bay. In the meantime I'm going to go check on Miranda"

-X-

Shepard knocked on Miranda's door and to his pleasant surprise it opened. Behind it was Miranda in her usual place, busily working behind her desk but also with her head buried in her work even more than it usually was, especially more than it had been recently.

"_It's really weird to see Miranda smiling while she's working" _Kasumi Goto had noted, who was currently the only person other than Shepard and Miranda who knew about their romance. _"...and it's all because of you! Be gentle with her Shepard"_

Remembering these words only made Shepard feel more guilty than he already was. He had hated seeing Miranda upset with him and her being hurt by his actions, or inactions as it were.

"Miranda" Shepard said, catching her attention. "May I come in?"

Miranda nodded wordlessly and Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. Walking inside Miranda's room in full and shutting the door behind him he sat down in the seat he always took when in her office.

"How are you holding up?"

"You can't seriously be asking me that in light of all that has just happened can you?" Miranda demanded.

"I suppose not. Miranda, I'm sorry. Maybe I should have told you the truth, but I didn't think you would believe me if I did. And I _had _to do it. I've already said why and I know you don't believe me but…"

Miranda raised her hand as a sign for Shepard to stop and then said: "No I'm sorry. That outburst was not fair of me. You didn't know anything about me yet when you were seeing what you saw, and I didn't even believe that the devil or hell existed at the time. I had no reason to suspect you could just get yourself resurrected and I certainly would never have believed you if you'd told me"

Shepard smiled. "So am I forgiven?"

Miranda sighed deeply. "Shepard, we're all in hell right now. We could be trapped in here forever because of the deal you made with Lucifer. That's a hard thing to forgive"

"I know, but I stand by the promise I've made: I _will_ get us out of here. I won't let us be Lucifer's playthings. And I'm never letting him hurt you"

Miranda smiled at him. "You're so bloody noble. I used to get on Jacob's case for acting like a knight in shining armor. But the more time I've spent with you Shepard the more I realize just how deeply I admire you and Jacob for being who you are, even if I don't always show it." Miranda walked up to Shepard and looked him dead in the eye. "I don't know what's in store for us down here in hell, but I do know that I love you, and I'm not letting that love be ruined so easily. I'm with you Shepard" she made the faintest of smiles as she allowed Shepard to take her in his arms. "It's funny. I had mentioned that you had a fire that would make someone willing to follow you into hell itself. Looks like I was more right than I thought"

-X-

It was a few hours later when Joker reported seeing an end to the lake coming up, and with it a full view of what the Normandy's crew would be in for. Suffice to say, it was not a pleasant sight, being a neverending field of fire, brimstone, crevices, and flaming bodies falling into various parts of it like burning rain. And all the while screams of agony could be heard.

"Oh Kheelah…" Tali breathed as she saw the nightmarish scene in front of them. As she did a deep chuckle could be heard that echoed throughout the cavernous depths of the underworld before the source said: "Ah yes. The Quarians' name for my father. I'm afraid he cannot help you here. He cannot help _any_ of you here"

**Author's Note: And so the Normandy's Crew is now in hell. And even worse half of Shepard's crew is seriously mad at him. Not a good place for the commander is it?**

**Regarding the Leviathan, I am obviously not referring to the Leviathan from the ME 3 DLC but rather the biblical creature who is said to be one of the Seven Princes of Hell (personifying Envy) and being Hell's Gate-Keeper. So with all that in mind I figured it made sense to include him in the story, especially since there's a nice big river he can swim in.**


	3. Chapter 2: Limbo

Chapter 2: Limbo

The Normandy only got a very brief glimpse of the fields of hell before it plummeted over the edge of a waterfall that marked the end of the river Acheron. Once again it was a rough landing but this time with far fewer injuries and no casualties. At the base of the waterfall was a vast stretch of black land filled with the husks of dead trees. No sooner had they landed did Shepard begin assembling the entire team. The entire armory was emptied and everyone loaded up with their respective weapons of choice, with Garrus also donning the new armor Jacob had made for him.

The rest of the crew meanwhile, were told to stay behind, with the engineers, Joker, and EDI doing what they could to try and repair the ship following it's abuse at Leviathan's hands. To make sure the crew was not attacked while Shepard led his team into the rest of Hell, Samara and Jacob were told to stay behind also and provide protection. Between the former's incredible biotic ability and the latter's weapons skills, Shepard was confident that the crew would be safe while he led his other ten squadmates out into whatever the rest of hell had in store for them. He would have left Mordin behind as well on the account of his injuries and frailty, but the good doctor had insisted on accompanying the rest of the team.

Setting out, Shepard and his ten companions all cautiously advanced out into the vast darkness. As they walked not a sound was made, and the silence and eerie calm were quite unlike what Shepard had been expecting when he thought of hell. And though none of the alien crewmembers were terribly knowledgeable about hell (except apparently Legion) they too did not expect a place like where they were now.

As they continued to move forward though, they did at last hear a sound, namely that of a sad music filling the air. Deciding to follow it to it's source, the squad found a thin and miserable looking dark haired man sitting up against a dead tree playing a lyre. Upon seeing the ten armed and armored figures approaching him the man stopped playing his lyre and jumped up in a start.

"What is this? More demons? No, not demons...shades such as myself then?"

"We're not shades" Shepard said, signaling the others to stand down as he said this. "I'm Commander Shepard and this is my crew. We were sent here against our will and now we're trying to get out"

"Against your will you say? Ah then we share a similar story"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Orpheus. In life I was a musician, of which there was no equal in the known world. But now I am but a shade, stolen from my place in the Elysium Fields and forever separated from my beloved Eurydice"

"Orpheus...I remember reading about you" Miranda noted. "I never thought you were real though…"

The shade made the faintest of smiles as Miranda said this. "I take no offense. My time was so long ago nearly all evidence of it's existence has been long forgotten"

"Why are you here Orpheus?" Shepard asked. "I read your story too and I never took you for the sinful type"

"That's because I am not. I first came here when it was under the dominion of Hades and his queen fair Persephone. My beloved had been taken from me before her time you see, and so I set off to save her" Orpheus hung his head in shame. "Since you have read my story, you know that I failed, but there is more to it. You see, when I died I was allowed into the Elysium Fields, at which point my beloved and I were reunited. And for several millennia after we enjoyed eternal bliss. But then, like waking up from a dream it was suddenly shattered and I found to my horror that I was here once more, separated from Eurydice and eternal bliss both. For centuries after I wandered the shores of Acheron alone, struggling to understand why I had been taken. Finally I learned that as I was a pagan I "had" to be sent here. Of course if that were really true Eurydice and countless others there would have also been taken from Elysium. No, I know the real reason why: he wanted me to suffer, and so made me suffer he did. I suspect the torment of souls such as myself is his only real pleasure. Or perhaps with me he wished to make an example out of anyone else who would try to come here before their time and try to liberate one of hell's occupants"

"What kind of monster would do something like that?" Tali wondered out loud.

"You have no idea" Orpheus said simply.

"So where is here anyway?" Garrus asked. "It seems kind of spooky and quiet. Reminds me of the Collector Ship"

"Limbo" Orpheus answered matter-of-factly. "The first circle of the Inferno. The realm in which lies those who did not sin but also lacked the sufficient faith to ascend. More specifically, virtuous pagans and unbaptized children"

"So...anyone who does not believe is sent here?" Tali asked. Orpheus nodded. "More or less. And that was Lucifer's justification for putting me here, though I know it to be a lie. He just wanted an excuse to make me miserable by separating me from Eurydice"

"Do you have any idea how we can get out of here?" Shepard asked. "You see we're not actually dead, but Lucifer's trapped us here anyway"

"If I knew how to leave this place I would have long since done so by now" Orpheus shook his head. "No sadly I do not. My gods can no longer help me just as yours can no longer help you. And no mortal weapon can kill Lucifer. I am afraid you are hopelessly trapped in here as I am"

"I don't believe that" Shepard said. "There's no way for a soul to leave this place?"

"The only way that I know of outside of receiving special dispensation from Lucifer himself, which he would never grant, is if one were to absolve you of your sins, thus eliminating your reason for being here in the first place. But to do that would require an angel, or in lieu of that one with an angel's power or blessing"

"Well unfortunately we don't have any of those" Miranda said.

"There is one way you may be able to acquire what you need. You said that you are living and not dead. If you pray to the archangels one may heed your prayers and offer assistance. I would have attempted such a thing myself, but I soon found that the prayers of shades go unanswered"

"I don't think any of us are the religious type" Shepard noted. "Except for Tali and Thane. Would they be able to do it?"

"The drell and the quarian? I do not know. The supreme being takes many forms and appears in religions all over the universe. It is possible that their prayers may be heeded, but I cannot say with certainty."

"Well I think it's worth a shot"

"I will try" Thane said. "I do not know of any 'archangels', but I can pray as I always have before."

"We'll have to hope that's enough"

"Hope is a thing rarely seen in hell" Orpheus noted sadly.

Nevertheless, Thane entered a position of prayer and said in a calm and serene tone that betrayed the bleakness of his surroundings: "Amonkira, Lord of Hunters, Arashu, Goddess of Motherhood and Protection, and Kalahira, Goddess of Oceans and Afterlife, I ask that you lend us your charity, your strength, and your wisdom so that we may overcome this trial, and return to the realm of the living and a return to our Whole selves"

For a moment after this nothing happened, and the dark area was plunged into total silence once more. But then, just as all began to think that their efforts had been unsuccessful, a bright light shined and blasted back the shadows of the first part of hell for the briefest of moments before fading and revealing a muscular figure clad in brilliant shining silver-blue armor and with majestic white feathered wings sprouting out of his back.

"I have answered the prayers sent up from within the Inferno" the figure said. He turned to Shepard: "You have begun something here in the Inferno. Something far more important than you realize"

"What do you mean?"

"Your contract with Lucifer that has brought you and your crew into Hell was not a coincidence. I believe that your presence here may finally allow a changing of the guard that has been overdue here for untold ages now. Lucifer has sat at the throne of Hell for far too long, and too many suffer here who do not deserve it. Therefore I will give you the strength you need to overcome the nine circles of the Inferno and free yourself and your friends. I ask only that along the way you liberate others here who have suffered in this infernal place for too long now"

Shepard nodded. "I can do that. But I'll need to know _what_ to do"

"As I said, I will give you the means" outstretching an armored hand, the archangel produced a smaller but still intensely bright aura of light. Shepard felt one of his arms become consumed in the same light and when it faded a gauntlet the same color as the angel's armor had appeared where his omni-tool was.

"What did you do to my omni-tool?" Shepard asked.

"I have made it more than it was before. Your piece of technology now possess a portion of my powers. You can absolve shades in this realm of their sins and also smite hell's creatures that threaten you. Use it well"

And then, in another flash of bright light the Archangel vanished as quickly as he had appeared, and when he did he left behind Shepard, his team, and Orpheus' shade, who finally got back to his feet after having sunk to his knees to bask in the archangel's light.

"It would seem that at last my prayers have been answered after all. Could you use your power on me? To send me back to the Elysium fields and to Eurydice?"

Shepard nodded. "Let's see if I can actually do this though" raising up his omni-tool arm, Shepard initially aimed it at Orpheus' shade but then thought better of that and instead did the "wave" motion that one used when using the omni-tool to perform more common tasks. To Shepard's surprise, it glowed a bright blue light and an identical light then appeared in Orpheus' chest. Letting out a gasp of cathartic relief, Orpheus went up into the air, tears of joy streaming down his eyes.

"I am coming Eurydice my love"

And then, in another bright flash of the same blue light Orpheus was gone, leaving Shepard and his team alone.

"Well now we know the upgrades the angel gave you work" Miranda noted. "Now we actually have a chance"

"See? I told you all I'd think of something" he turned to Thane: "Thanks a bunch. I owe you one"

"I suspect this will not be the last time faith will help us here" Thane noted. "Especially if the place the faithless go is only the first circle of nine"

"Yes, the nine circles of the Inferno" Legion noted. "They are in descending order Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery"

"And we have to go through all of them do we?" Garrus said. "Great. Sounds like fun"

"Why do I get the feeling that the lower we go the worse it's gonna get?" Kasumi noted. "Oh wait, that's because it will won't it?"

Shepard nodded. "But now like Miranda said we have a chance. That angel Thane summoned gave me some of his power. With it I can get us a way out of here"

"I hope you're right Shepard" Garrus said. "Because this is definitely a whole lot different from what we're all used to"

"I know Garrus, but we can make it through this. I know we can"

"Gee and I thought _I _was the optimistic one" Kasumi noted.

"I figure it's the only way we're gonna last at all down here" Shepard pointed out. "Somehow I don't think losing hope will help in a place like this"

"Touche"

"Now remember what the angel also said: that there are souls here who don't deserve to be here. If we find any we should make sure to help them"

"Are you kidding me?" Zaeed said incredulously. "We're going to stop and help every poor bastard who ever got sent here? We'd all die of old age before we got past the first circle!"

"I never said _everyone _in Hell, just some. And something tells me we'll know them when we see them"

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Zaeed pressed.

"Call it a gut feeling"

"If you say so. But somehow I doubt any of these souls will have big neon signs hanging over their heads saying that they need absolving or somesuch. Not to mention they'll probably _all _say they don't belong here"

"Regardless, let's try and keep it in mind" Shepard said. "Especially since I told the angel I'd do it"

"Shepard!" a voice called out. All turned to face it and saw none other than Orpheus, now glowing with a brilliant blue light and looking far happier than before.

"Orpheus. I thought you had gone back to the Elysium Fields to be with Eurydice"

"I was going to, but I decided that I needed to pay you back for liberating me first. So I will be your guide through the nine circles of the Inferno until your journey here is complete. Then I will go to Eurydice"

"But won't you risk being trapped in here again?"

Orpheus shook his head. "No. I am absolved now, and will stay absolved. Lucifer may not like it, but there is now absolutely nothing he can do to me"

"Good to know" Shepard said with a nod. "So how do we get out of limbo?"

"Follow me" Orpheus said. Heeding his advice, Shepard and company followed the absolved soul through the dark and quiet lands of the first circle. As they continued to make their way through though, faint sounds began to be heard, noises that sounded almost like…

"Those are the cries of babies aren't they?" Shepard asked Orpheus, who nodded. "Yes. Children who perished before they could be inducted into their people's religion, whatever that may be"

"Wait, I'm confused: you say this place is for virtuous pagans and unbaptized children...does that mean anyone in the galaxy who isn't a Christian that dies go here?"

Orpheus shook his head. "No not necessarily. The Supreme Being takes many forms throughout his creation. Your Christian God is but one. Whatever the central and dominant religion on a world or among a species is, is in fact that particular representation of the Supreme Being. For humans it was the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For the Drell species it is the religion your companion is a follower in, and so on and so forth. This realm then is for those who believed in something else, or no religion at all"

"I always had trouble with the concept of religion" Miranda admitted. "But mostly just because I figured they couldn't _all _be right...apparently they could be and were"

"The Supreme Being does not limit itself to one specific faith. Faith itself is what sustains it"

"So then why are these people here?"

"Part of it depends on the faith in question" Orpheus explained. "I believed in the Elysium Fields and also had the virtue to reach it, so that was where I went after death along with my beloved. Religions who believe in reincarnation get exactly that. Faiths with less defined ideas of the afterlife, or none at all, go here. Others still were forcibly taken here by Lucifer, who always used their being pagans as a flimsy excuse, as he did with me. Come, I will show you what I mean"

At this Orpheus flew off again, and again Shepard and his companions followed him. As they did though Shepard noticed that Miranda wasn't with the others and set off in search of her. He found her standing over an alcove built into a tall black tree, from which a baby's cries could be heard.

"Miranda, what's wrong?"

Miranda turned to face him, tears welling up in her eyes. "It's one of my sisters"

"What?"

"One of my sisters" Miranda repeated. "Remember how I said I wasn't the first child my father made just the first one he kept? Well I saw him personally discard others he judged to be failures, even ones as young as her" Miranda pointed to the baby, which looked like any human infant save for it's skin being a pale gray and it's eyes having misted over. But it continued to cry quietly.

"How did you know she was here?"

Miranda shrugged. "When Orpheus mentioned unbaptized children I remembered the siblings my father killed, and then I heard her cry...like it was calling out to me specifically…"

Miranda angrily brushed the tears out of her eyes. "I hope my father rots in the lowest and worst part of this place forever" Miranda growled.

"That makes two of us" Shepard agreed. He embraced Miranda before kissing her on the cheek. "Come on. We need to catch up with the others"

Miranda nodded but turned back to her sister. "I just wish there was something I could do for her...to help her the way I helped Oriana…"

"Maybe I can help with that" Shepard suggested. "I have the power to absolve souls remember? Let me try to absolve hers"

So it was that Shepard walked up to the crying baby and waved his omni-tool arm. It glowed brightly, and the baby's crying became louder and filled with more life as she was enveloped in a bright light that then shot upwards into the heavens that awaited it.

Shepard turned to see Miranda's eyes again being filled with tears but this time with tears of joy. "Thank you Shepard. I won't forget this"

Shepard nodded and hugged Miranda tightly to him again as they walked back to join the others together. Soon the whole squad came upon a massive black castle towering so high the tops of it's towers brushed up against the roots that danced across the "ceiling".

"Follow me inside" Orpheus said. Once they all entered, they were greeted with a massive and incredibly spacious light gray colored room that seemed to be of infinite size. And filling this place were countless shades, all of whom stopped for a moment to look at Shepard and his companions, who they immediately identified as being alive and by extension out of place.

"This here is the Hall of Kings, home to all virtuous non-believers, including the great rulers and philosophers of the Old World. This realm is ruled by Persephone, now a widow after Lucifer slew her husband during his takeover of the underworld, which he renamed Hell"

"I recognize some of them" Shepard observed. "Some of them are aliens from all over the galaxy...Asari Matriarchs, Salarian scientists, Turian leaders…"

"I can see Homer" Miranda noted. "And I believe that is Saladin"

"Very astute observations" Orpheus noted. "And do not forget Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle"

"I have never agreed to such terms!" one of the three wise men said in a strained and hoarse voice but one that was nevertheless also filled with defiance and conviction.

"I say that God exists in a realm of thought accessible to human ideas!" Plato said in a much stronger voice that was filled with ironclad conviction.

"Oh please Plato" the third wise man said, intervening. "...there is only _one _philosophy in the Inferno: _Lucifers_"

"Then why continue this discussion with us if you see no point to the discussion itself?"

"For no reason except my own amusement" Socrates said with a lopsided grin. "But our radical ideas won't help us here old friend" As he said this Mordin began making his way towards them.

"Mordin what are you doing?"

"Would like to join this conversation" Mordin said matter-of-factly. "Studied various religions in past, human religion included. Also know about great human philosophers like Plato. Sounds very interesting" as Mordin said this a large smile appeared on his face and he walked up to the three philosopher's shades in full and wasted no time introducing himself and unintentionally sparking another debate between the three on the account of his being an alien and thus proof of sentient life beyond the Earth.

"Unbelievable. He manages to find a way to entertain himself even in hell" Miranda said shaking her head.

"Though this is the first circle of the Inferno I can assure you that this place holds not a candle to the rest of it" Orpheus told her. "Though it is not eternal bliss the shades here at least do not suffer the way they do in the other eight circles, the entrance to which is just beyond this citadel"

"Then we should probably get moving" Shepard said, ordering his squad to move out and forcing Mordin to exit his conversation with the human philosophers, much to his annoyance. "Such a waste. Conversation incredibly educational. Fascinating to learn more about ancient thinkers and their ideas. Pointless. Pointless waste"

Moving beyond the Hall of Kings, Shepard and his crew followed Orpheus down a winding and twisting series of walkways of cobbled stone that were surrounded on all sides by darkness. As they continued to make their way through though, they could hear a sinister, bellowing voice in the distance:

"LUST!" the voice shouted, followed by a scream of terror that quickly faded. Then the voice shouted out again: "FRAUD!" and again a scream could be heard, this one louder than the last.

"What's going on?" Tali asked. "Where are those screams coming from?"

"The truly sinful are being judged and sent to their respective circle for their punishment. It is through the judge in question that we will reach the other eight circles of the Inferno"

"VIOLENCE!" the voice rang out again, followed swiftly by a cry of: "GLUTTON!"

Finally at long last the squad came upon the judge in question, and saw him to be a massive serpentine creature that from the waist down looked vaguely like a monstrous fusion of snake and octopus. From the waist above the creature had the appearance of a pale skinned man, with a mess of giant skulls strung together in a mockery of the fur on a medieval king's cloak. His eye sockets were covered with what looked almost like columns of melted wax, and over his hairless head he wore a tall and imposing crown topped with spikes and looking more like a tower from a castle.

"What is that...thing?" Garrus asked.

"A figure from my own time. And though I did not know of him personally I had heard a great deal about him while we were both alive. In life he was King Minos, ruler of Crete who fed Athenian children to his spawn the Minotaur until the inventor Daedalus boiled him alive in his bath."

"Charming" Miranda said sarcastically.

"Following this Hades decided that his soul could still be of some use. In that period he was assigned to judge the souls of the dead alongside his brothers Radamanthus and Aeacus, but after Lucifer assumed control he did away with Minos' siblings and had him be the lone judge of damned souls, as you see before you"

Indeed, as Orpheus said this Minos grabbed another hapless shade and brought him up to his deformed face. Sniffing him, Minos made the slightest of smiles. "Ah yes...suicide"

"No please, I am innocent" the shade begged.

"I dismiss that claim" King Minos replied coldly before tossing the pleading shade onto a cruel, rusting and bloodstained spike on a wheel, which then spun and sent the shade into the abyss below, with him screaming the whole way down to the seventh circle.

"And how exactly are we going to get past him?" Tali asked Orpheus.

"We shoot him of course" Zaeed said matter-of-factly. "The bastard died once he can die again if we shoot him enough. Doesn't matter how big he is"

"I sense a violent soul here" King Minos bellowed before turning to face Shepard and his group. "The living. There is no place for you here...not yet anyway"

"You're right, there isn't a place for us here. But Lucifer's trapped us here anyway, so we're going to...'negotiate' our release. But apparently he's at the bottom circle, so we need to go down there"

"None pass me!" King Minos bellowed. "I hold dominion here! You are nothing to me!"

"Take him!" Shepard ordered. Heeding his command, the whole squad opened fire on King Minos' massive reptilian body. To Shepard's relief the bullets clearly succeeded in hurting Minos, as he reeled back with every shot fired at him, each one also causing him to shed thick green blood. Roaring in anger, King Minos lashed out with the tentacles attached to the sides of his snake tail, each one striking with such force that it sent up a small amount of rubble and dust with every attack that failed to hit one of Shepard's crew.

All the while King Minos tried and failed to squash Shepard and his crew beneath his massive tentacles the group continued to shoot at him, only for Minos in turn to continue lashing out in a rising and single-minded frenzy.

"The rate this is going we're not gonna have anything left for whatever else we'll run into!" Zaeed shouted as he narrowly avoided another strike of one of Minos' tentacles.

"I agree" Shepard said. "We need to end this now. Garrus, hit him with the Cain!"

Nodding, Garrus drew what was perhaps the single most devastating weapon in the Normandy Crew's arsenal, the M-920 Cain. The weapon was so powerful and destructive that it had been given the (albeit inaccurate) nick-name "The Nuke Launcher". Taking aim with it as King Minos was distracted attacking Tali and Legion, Garrus aimed it right at Minos' head and fired.

The effect of the shot colliding with King Minos' head was nothing short of spectacular. An incredibly powerful and almost blinding fiery explosion tore through Minos' face and was so bright it briefly illuminated the eternal darkness around them. Bellowing in rage but also gurgling green blood, Minos flailed about wildly before at last falling forwards and collapsing. His impact created a large amount of dust and his tentacles continued to flail about after he landed but then at last they too fell to the ground and lay still.

"Did we kill him?" Shepard asked Orpheus.

"Only temporarily. You cannot truly kill that which is already dead. King Minos will return in due time to resume his position as judge of the damned. The same holds true of any shades you slay here. They will simply rematerialize in their respective circle"

"But Lucifer's not dead. He just rules here. That means we can kill him"

"Perhaps. But to do so would require an incredible amount of power. You may not have what it takes"

Shepard smiled behind his N7 breather helmet. "I guess we'll have to find out won't we?"

**Author's Note: And so with this chapter we get into hell proper. I also feel like this chapter is a nice example of how some of my own ideas are integrated into the general depiction of Dante's Inferno. As for the clear Greek Mythology references throughout, those were present throughout the original poem, so I figured they could and should be included here. Plenty more will follow these.**

**And yes, I know the Archangel is a little dues ex machina, but not completely. This is not the last you'll see of that particular character and he has a more important role to play near the end of the story. You'll see. For now at least I hope you enjoyed my chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3: Lust

Chapter 3: Lust

_... But to that second circle of sad hell,_

_Where 'mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw_

_Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell_

_Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw,_

_Pale were the lips I kiss'd, and fair the form_

_I floated with, about that melancholy storm._

_-On a Dream by John Keats_

Cruel lightning tore through the purple sky as choppy waves rose and smashed hard against the spiked black rocks. Fierce howling winds assaulted everyone's ear-drums the second they descended the path beyond King Minos' area in full. And the longer they listened the more they could make out moans of pain and agony on the high winds.

"This is the second circle" Orpheus explained. "The circle of Lust. Here those who were slaves to their lewd passions are cursed to be forever tossed about by the storm winds, slaves to the storm's chaotic movements as they were slaves to their chaotic passions in life. To further their suffering, lovers who were sent here are kept apart by the force of the storm, or with one of them being within the storm and the other without"

"Moral of the story, keep it in your pants" Jack remarked callously.

"Kheelah this seems so cruel" Tali remarked. "Why would any god allow something like this?"

"Because the Supreme Being allowed free will" Orpheus explained. "..including to his angels. Ergo when Lucifer was banished from Paradise he sought this place and made it his own. And it was Lucifer then who separated Hell into the nine circles and devised the sadistic torments of each one, including what you see before you now. Before he came the underworld as it was known was a far less unbearable place. All of it resembled Limbo and under the rule of Hades and Persephone it was cold but fair. Now it is a place of never-ending suffering"

As the storm continued to rage and cries of the damned filled the air, Orpheus pointed some of them out: "You see here Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, Paris and Helen of Troy, Matriarch Reveytha, and countless others, all tossed about forever in the tempest"

As Orpheus said this Shepard turned to the entirety of his squad. "Let's not linger. The less time we spend in any one part of this place the better"

"You'll get no argument from me commander" Miranda said.

Moving out down a cobbled walkway through the raging storm, the same sounds that continued to fill the air were joined by a third, namely monstrous shrieking and howling that rivaled that of the storm winds. Looking up, the group saw a small army of demons flying towards them on large leather wings. The squad didn't even need an order before opening fire on them, the hailstorm of bullets cutting down several before they even reached Shepard and company. Those that did landed and drew swords wreathed in flame. Not taking the bladed weapons seriously at first, Grunt was left shocked when one swipe of the weapon almost completely dispelled his formidable energy shields. Instinctively falling back, Grunt managed to throw off his shock long enough to retaliate with a close-range shotgun blasts that left the demon in pieces that then burned away.

With it now being abundantly clear how dangerous their enemy's swords actually were, all of Shepard's other companions followed Grunt's example and backpedaled as fast as they could before they were eviscerated by the sweeping strikes and merciless thrusts of the demon's fiery swords. No sooner were they safely out of range did they all let fly with a barrage of bullets, biotics, and tech abilities that made swift work of most of the demons and frightened away the others.

"Demon Watchers" Orpheus observed grimly. "And there will most certainly be more of them"

"They don't seem too tough if you can just say out of the way of their weapons" Tali noted.

"Perhaps, but I can assure you that the base watchers are but the lower caste of hell's legions. The more powerful demons that reside in the lower circles will not be defeated so easily"

"Maybe, but we've taken out our fair share of tough foes in the past" Shepard noted. As he said this, more cries of agony could be heard over the storm winds. Orpheus shook his head as he looked up sadly at it.

"I can see so many suffering here. All of them cursed to be forever punished for their passions."

"You're not the only one" Garrus said as he too stopped to again look at the raging Lust Storm. "I think I can see some Asari prostitutes I met on Omega once too" Garrus noted as two of the blue skinned aliens also went flying over the crew's heads screaming in agony.

"Lust like most sins is not restricted to humanity" Orpheus noted sadly. "Many of your own race are here also Turian"

"Yeah that doesn't surprise me. I used to work with a lot of perverts while serving on..."

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of a female voice calling out on the winds: "Help me! Please, _Mio Dio, _save me and Paolo from this place! I beg of you!"

Following the voice, Shepard and his group saw a wretched and gaunt woman whose beauty had long ago been marred by torment and the merciless storm surrounding her, and the crimson dress she had worn when she died now a tattered colorless ruin.

"Help me! You who are living please help me!"

"Who are you?" Shepard asked, suspecting that this was one of the wrongfully condemned the angel had been referring to.

"I am Francesca da Rimini. I was sent here with my lover when my husband killed us both in a jealous rage"

"You cheated on your husband?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, but I never loved him. Quite the contrary I was tricked into marrying him. It was a politically convenient union you see, and one that brought me no happiness. One day when I was with his brother we were reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, and it was through that that we realized our own love for each other. Perhaps I should have left my husband before going to Paolo and embracing him as my own, but I knew Giovanni would never let me go so I had no choice but to break my marriage vows and see Paolo in secret. We maintained it for years and I even became pregnant with Paolo's child. We vowed to raise the child in secret but after years of our forbidden union we were finally discovered by Giovanni. And then for our love we were sent here. My only consolation this whole time is that my wretched husband has been condemned to the lowest circle for betraying and murdering his own kin. Please, I beg of you to show mercy to us! Allow me and my love to be together in Paradise and not here, so we may finally rest in peace and see our child again"

"...well, I don't approve of adultery but I can't say I don't feel sorry for you. I'll free you. You said your lover was here too, do you know where?"

"Paolo? No sadly I do not. I know him to be in this circle with me but that is the most that I know. Please, I beg you to find him and absolve him as well! I only wish to be with him!"

"I'll do what I can" Shepard promised before waving his upgraded omni-tool the same way he had when he'd absolved Orpheus. As had been the case with him Francesca let out a gasp of catharsis and rose into the air, as she did her physical beauty and red dress being restored in full.

"We will meet again my love" Francesca said before vanishing in a bright light.

"Well that's one" Zaeed noted before adding: "But how do you expect to find her boyfriend? He could be anywhere in here. Might be flying through that damn hurricane for all we know"

"We'll just have to look around" Shepard said, ordering his crew to keep following him as all the while the storm continued to rage. As they continued to walk, Kasumi couldn't help but remark: "Whoever thought lust would get you such a punishment. If this is how they treat people like that I'd hate to see what they do to the _really_ nasty people…"

"Well we still haven't seen much hellfire and brimstone yet" Miranda noted. "I suspect it won't be too long before that changes"

The march through the raging storm and screams of the lustful damned was soon interrupted yet again, this time by other demons quite unlike what the group had seen before. Crawling out of the ground or flying out of the raging winds of the Lust Storm, these demons appearance was a truly frightening amalgamation of Asari and human and turian females, with pieces of all three crudely stitched together in such a way that they resembled Frankenstein's Monster, only perhaps even more repulsive. They also bore sharpened iron colored claws in place of fingers.

"Temptresses" Orpheus noted. "The fiends of the second circle. Do not let them seduce you"

Garrus shot one in the head with his Mantis, the temptress promptly exploding into violet flames as the shot connected. "Somehow I doubt these things are going to be seducing me"

"Do not let their appearances fool you" Orpheus warned as the rest of the squad followed Garrus' example and opened fire. Heeding Jacob's earlier advice, Jack, Miranda, and Thane relied more on their biotics to destroy the demons in an effort to conserve valuable ammunition, especially since here there were no spare thermal clips to be found.

One Temptress ran right up to Shepard and brushed herself against his armor, making sexual moans as she grinded her body against his. Shepard responded by shooting her in the half-Asari half human face, which like the other slain Temptresses caused her to burst into violet flame.

"Sorry, but I already have a partner" Shepard quipped, as he did shooting a brief look over to Miranda, who combined her biotic power with Jacks to blow away three Temptresses in a rare display of teamwork between the two biotic women.

Drawing his Revenant Assault Rifle, Shepard unleashed his own personal brand of hellfire on the nearest Temptresses, the merciless hail of the bullets tearing apart their stitched together bodies that in turn vanished into violet fire in an instant after being shot.

"Just as well" Shepard thought as he blew away two more temptresses. "I hate looking at these things anyway"

As had been the case before, the demons eventually realized that they were outmatched and the few surviving temptresses fled, disappearing back into the Lust Storm.

"So far so good" Shepard noted. "We've beaten these things back twice now. At this rate we'll make it out of this circle in no time. All we need to do is find Paolo"

"What if Zaeed is right though?" Tali asked. "What if he's inside that storm? We'll never find him in that"

"I could enter it" Orpheus suggested. "See if he's in there"

"You sure you'll be safe?" Shepard asked, not wanting Orpheus to accidentally damn himself a second time.

Orpheus shook his head. "As I said before, there is nothing that can be done to torment my soul now. And even if the lustful attempted to seduce me their wiles would not work. My love for Eurydice is stronger than that. I resisted the Maenads, I can resist whatever waits inside the storm for me"

And with this Orpheus flew into the storm. As he did though another wave of Temptresses appeared to challenge Shepard and his group, this one reinforced by more of the other demons from before, some of whom now carried cruel looking scythes in their hands in place of flaming swords.

Knowing the danger of those weapons the squad opened fire on them first, and cut them down before they even had a chance to close in. But it did give the Temptresses time to close in and run up to each of the crewmembers with the exception of Legion, who shot at them both with it's Mantis Sniper Rifle and it's drones.

Mordin was the first to dispatch his temptress, smiling as he said: "Salarians Asexual. Unaffected by creatures of weaponized lust. My apologies"

Several tackled Jack, likely drawn to both her violence and also mostly exposed body. Snarling but also smiling wickedly, Jack unleashed a biotic shockwave that blasted them back and sent them flying in different directions.

"Sorry but I don't play for that team" Jack said with a smirk. Grunt too was not fazed by the attempts at seduction and simply crushed one of his opponent's head underneath his massive feet while blowing the others away with blasts from his Scimitar Shotgun.

"No sport" Grunt grumbled.

Kasumi for her part dodged the attacks of the Temptresses with her natural agility and reflexes, all the while peppering them with fire from her SMG. Her outmaneuvering them however, was interrupted when another demon tackled her, this one resembling the temptresses only male and with parts of his body taken from a turian male and…

"Keiji?" Kasumi asked as she looked up at the creature's stitched together face. "It...it can't be…"

The demon moved in closer before roaring at her. Grabbing it from behind, Zaeed pulled it back and pumped it full of assault rifle fire. As it was blown away, Kasumi snapped back to reality and could see quite clearly that the human parts of it's face did not in fact belong to her late lover.

"Keep your head in the game" Zaeed growled.

"I...it looked like Keiji…"

Kasumi soon found she wasn't the only one who nearly fell prey to the demon's powers of influence. As Thane continued to fight off the demons left and right, he could have sworn he saw one of the temptresses take on the appearance of his beloved wife before sanity came back to him and the illusion vanished, with Thane promptly destroying the demon with a biotic blast to the chest. Garrus thought he saw the face of the fellow crewmember who had always had 'flexibility" and hesitated to shoot. Had Mordin not been near him and killed the demon Garrus could have been slain then and there.

Miranda kicked one of the temptresses in the face, knocking her back and leaving her exposed to fire from Miranda's SMG that finished her off. Another demon grabbed her arms and pulled her close to him, as it did whispering to her: "Don't struggle my love. It's me, Virgil"

Miranda closed her eyes tightly and did her best to fight off the voice that sounded eerily similar to Shepards. Wreathing her body in an aura resembling blue fire, Miranda unleashed a powerful burst of biotic energy that melted the demon's face and chest and forced it back. One close-range blast from her SMG finished it off, the creature vanishing in purple embers. As this happened though, Miranda did not notice something strike her hard in the head.

Miranda gasped in pain and fell down, as she did the world going black. Only Miranda did not lose consciousness. Standing up she saw herself to be in an empty, featureless, black void, where all of the sounds of battle had disappeared along with everything else and now Miranda stood alone.

Except that didn't last.

Something streaked through the darkness towards her. Before Miranda could react it had taken her SMG from her. Then a whirlwind of small blood colored fiends appeared around her, all of them scratching and tearing at her and shredding her catsuit to pieces until soon she was completely bare. Then the fiends vanished.

Instinctively covering her exposed breasts with her hands and looking around, Miranda's blood froze as she heard Lucifer's laugh followed by his bone-chilling voice: "My my…such a ravishing thing"

Miranda spun around to where she thought Lucifer's voice was, only for him to grab her from behind and pull her close to him. He smiled wickedly as he looked down on Miranda's completely exposed form. "I can see why the good commander chose you as his mate"

Miranda spun around to face Lucifer, as she did continuing to cover her exposed breasts as her face turned red and her cheeks burned hot with anger and embarrassment.

"Oh come now don't be so frightened. You can see quite clearly that I am not the monster so much of your race's art has depicted me as"

"Maybe not on the outside" Miranda spat, eyes becoming a frosty, hateful glare. This only seemed to amuse Lucifer more.

"Heh heh. Such a clever child". Before Miranda even realized it, Lucifer had closed the distance between them, and before she could react he took her chin in one of his hands, turning her face to one side to better admire it.

"Such a pretty face. But if _my_ current face does not satisfy you, perhaps you would prefer something_ more _akin to your artist's depictions?"

And then before Miranda's eyes Lucifer transformed in a burst of fire into a much more monstrous form, his skin going from bronze to the color of rusting metal and his legs morphing into brown furred goat limbs. Massive goat-like horns also sprouted out of his head and his blue eyes became like burning embers. Finally, the fingers still wrapped tightly around Miranda's face and chin transformed into cruel talons. She could feel an intense cutting pain but not a single drop of blood was shed.

Lucifer cackled, as he did exposing a mouth lined with teeth like knives and no less then three worm-like tongues, one of which licked Miranda's face, who pulled away in revulsion and fought off the urge to vomit. As she turned away Lucifer at last released his grip on her and when she turned around she saw that he was gone.

Then she heard a hissing sound and soon realized that Lucifer was now a massive snake wrapping himself around her.

"Or perhapssss you'd prefer the form I took when I sssseduced Eve so many ages ago?" he hissed into her ear, which elicited almost as much disgust as when he had licked her.

"You're a monster" Miranda said softly.

Again Lucifer chuckled, as he did transforming back into his white-suited form. "I am the _master _of all the universe's monsters my dear. Every murderer, torturer, rapist, and other depraved fiend creation ever produced is mine to command the second they leave their world and enter mine. And if I'm not mistaken many of _your _former associates are here as well."

"I'm not them!" Miranda growled indignantly. "I joined Cerberus to help my race. I never tortured people or killed children"

"Hmm, perhaps not but I doubt you are bereft of sin either way child. What crimes have you committed in your life? How many graves have you filled by your hand or by order?"

"I'm not that kind of person" Miranda said resolutely.

"I wonder what would happen if Shepard knew of your whole past?" Lucifer asked, running one of his fingers down the side of her body as he did.

"He already does. I told him everything. And he still loves me. He knows I'm not a monster. Not like _you_"

At this the devil grabbed Miranda and pulled her close to him, pressing her bare back against his chest and restraining her arms. As he did he whispered to her: "I've only just _begun _to act like a monster my love"

"I'm not your 'love'" Miranda snarled, struggling to free herself from Lucifer's grip, which remained firm.

"Oh but you are. You see miss Lawson, I've decided that yours is the soul I most want out of all of Commander Shepard's companions, and I will have you no matter the cost. It is only a question of how long you can resist me before you submit"

"I will _**never **_submit to you" Miranda growled. Lucifer smiled and pulled her even closer to him as he whispered into her ear: "Your beloved commander and his friends will fail. You know this to be true. But there is a way to save them all from eternal damnation. Simply give yourself to me and I'll let them all go. I don't care about any of them anyway. I'll do fine with just you as my prize"

"If you took me as your own Shepard would bring all nine circles of this place down around you to get me back" Miranda said smugly, forming the slightest of smiles as she did.

Lucifer tightened his grip to such a degree that Miranda winced in pain, wiping the smile off her face. "You think you're clever harlot, but I'm patient. I can wait. In time you will call me...master"

"I'd rather burn in here"

Lucifer's golden lips formed a massive wicked grin. "That can be arranged too. And frankly I'd get just as much entertainment out of it"

Lucifer cackled cruelly and released Miranda, who fell forward into the darkness and Lucifer's laughter slowly faded away. When the shadows peeled back in full, Miranda found that her clothing had been restored in full, and her weapons were now at her side once more.

Two temptresses hovered over her, only for both to be swiftly gunned down by Shepard, who ran up to her and pulled her up.

"You alright?"

Shaking off the unpleasant experience as best she could, Miranda nodded silently before checking to see that her pistol and SMG were both loaded. Looking around she could see that the squad had managed to take out all of the other demons, with the last of the purple embers now fading away. And then no sooner did they did Orpheus return from the storm and flew back down to the rest of the group.

"Alas I could not find Paolo anywhere in the storm. Therefore he must be somewhere else in the circle"

"We're not seriously going to be wandering around here forever looking for some dude are we?" Jack asked incredulously.

"I promised Francesca that we'd find him" Shepard pointed out. "And I promised the angel I'd absolve souls who didn't deserve to be here. So between those two things, yes we're going to keep looking" then, Shepard added: "Of course if you don't want to stay here you could always go on ahead by yourself Jack. I'm sure you'll do just fine alone in the next circle of hell"

Jack scoffed and rolled her eyes but also couldn't help but be silently impressed with her commander's decidedly un-boyscout remark towards her. _Didn't think he had it in him…_

The group continued to advance through the second circle, navigating around the ever-present Lust Storm and looking out for any other place Paolo might be. In the end it was Mordin who found him, cuddled up into a fetal position mumbling about how he and Francesca's love had been more than just mere lust and that they deserved to be in heaven.

"Believe I found him" Mordin said matter-of-factly. "References woman named Francesca, also has correct accent. Most definitely correct shade"

Nodding, Shepard walked up to him and absolved him as he had Orpheus and Francesca. As his soul rose up and disappeared in a blue light though the tempest became even more violent still and the cries of the damned became louder as lightning and thunder ripped through the air in even more deafening volumes than before.

"_**HOW DARE YOU FREE THE DAMNED!" **_Lucifer's voice roared, the bloodcurdling fury completely unlike the normally calm and smug tone that he had. "They _deserve _torment for wasting their _fleeting precious lives. _This is now four such souls you have taken from me. That is not how things work here in hell. The damned do not get to leave here. Ever"

"They can if someone absolves them" Shepard said, smiling beneath his N7 helmet. Snarling, Lucifer replied darkly: "I hope it was worth it Commander. Because you and your entire crew will all suffer in the stead of any of the souls you free from this place"


	5. Chapter 4: Gluttony

Chapter 4: Gluttony

"Okay" Garrus said as he took one long look at the next circle of Hell that the group was now arriving at. "I think I just found my new least favorite circle"

"And this is only the third one" Kasumi noted. The others said nothing as they entered the third circle of the Inferno in full. It was only when they were presented with the nightmarish sight of what resembled the inside of a man's stomach did Orpheus break the silence to describe the place: "This is Gluttony. Here those who indulged themselves in excess reside, cursed to be forever denied that which they could not satisfy in life and be drowned in the acids and the slush of this wretched place. In truth this circle has always disgusted me more than most"

"Guess that makes two of us" Garrus noted as he apprehensively stared out at the sight. "And all just for overindulging"

"We would do well to move quickly through this circle" Orpheus cautioned. "A fearsome beast stands watch over this circle, a monster that like the damned souls here is never satisfied with what it has devoured and always hungers for more"

"What beast?"

Orpheus turned to Miranda. "I believe it's name is familiar to you" Her eyes widened as she realized what he was getting at.

"So the original Cerberus resides here does it?" Thane Krios noted.

"Can't say I'm surprised" Garrus said.

"Once it was a normal dog turned into a ferocious three-headed guardian by Hades, and then after Lucifer assumed control he transformed the beast yet again, into a hideous convulsing three-headed white worm that is never satisfied no matter how much it has devoured. Unlucky souls in this place often become it's next meals, where they continue to suffer in the beast's massive stomach"

"I take it it's one of those things that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?" Shepard asked. Orpheus nodded.

"Right. Well then yes, I do think we should get out of this circle fast"

"That's not the only reason" Zaeed grumbled in distaste as he continued to observe the repulsive sights of the third circle along with everyone else. Close examination of the third circle revealed that the walls seemed to be lined with guts and intestines, which in turn only made the place all the more repulsive to Shepard's squad. So it was that they wasted no time moving out.

"Shepard, do you remember when I said how I always felt like I needed to shower after a trip to Omega?" Miranda asked as she tip-toed around puddles of slush in the mass of writhing flesh and body acids with barely repressed disgust.

"Vaguely"

"Well this is worse"

"Yeah, I kind of agree" Shepard said with a nod. "The sooner we get out of this circle the better"

Garrus too was doing his best to move around the larger puddles of slush, and also the endless gaunt hands grabbing at him as their sources stared at him with gaping mouths that had not been filled in a very, very, long time.

"This place is disgusting. What is this slush supposed to be anyway?"

"You do not want to know" Orpheus replied simply. However that was all that was needed for Garrus to catch on to what the absolved soul was referring to.

"I think I might throw up now"

As the squad continued to move through the circle heavy rain began to fall as well, which made the mud-filled ground that the slush surrounded even muddier and left the whole squad soaking wet. They continued to trudge through completely miserable until a voice called out to them: "Please *inhale* those of many clans. I *inhale* beg you *inhale* to help me!"

Turning to the source they saw none other than a Volus waist-deep in the slush struggling just to keep from sinking all the way in. "Please! I cannot *inhale* swim in this filth and *inhale* the Cerberus hunts for us! *Inhale* The ravenous hellhound *inhale* turned demonic wyrm *inhale* is a torturer of us gluttons. It feasts *inhale* on our souls and then disgorges them, *inhale* so that it may always indulge in it's *inhale* never-ending hunger"

Shepard turned to Miranda: "Can you use your biotics to get him out?"

"I can try" Miranda answered before outstretching a hand and concentrating her biotic power on the hapless Volus. In an instant a biotic aura appeared around the Volus and Miranda in turn was able to lift him out of the slush he had been submerged in. No sooner was he on the muddy ground did he let out several more asthmatic breaths of relief.

"Thank *inhale* you Earth-Clan. I *inhale* have suffered *inhale* in that slush *inhale* for so long now"

"Who are you?" Shepard asked the Volus.

"Alas *inhale* my real name *inhale* has been lost *inhale*. I am known only as Ciacco now *inhale*. I ate too much *inhale* in life, and now *inhale* I am here and always hungry. *Inhale* I do not deserve this! *Inhale* I was good in life, respectful and *inhale* well-liked. But just for *inhale* indulging myself *inhale* I am damned here!"

"Well your suffering just ended. I can absolve you" And then with another wave of his enhanced omni-tool Shepard did exactly that, allowing the Volus to ascend and leave behind his torment in the third circle behind for good.

However this also elicited a decidedly unamused response from Hell's master.

"Another of my souls you free from their imprisonment. Such insult will not go unpunished. I call upon Cerberus and it's kin to devour you"

"Kin?"

Then, bounding through the slush, mud, and stomach acids without any kind of restraint was the hellhound turned great worm itself, Cerberus. As it made it's presence known Shepard and his squad got to behold it's repulsive appearance in full. It had a muscular pale-skinned body with four limbs that each looked like a giant human arm and hand. But it was it's three heads that drew everyone's gazes. Each one was a burgundy colored worm with no eyes and large human teeth. Perhaps most bizarre of all, several smaller heads jutted out of each of the bigger ones, all of them also snapping for more and more food.

In the end it was Jack who summed everyone's thoughts up perfectly: "What. The. _**Fuck?**_"

The beast's many heads all roared in unison before surging towards Shepard and his crew. "Take it down!" Shepard ordered.

Needing no other incentive, the squad all fired their respective guns at Cerberus, the hailstorm of bullets managing to destroy some of the smaller heads on the beast and throwing it into an even greater rage than it had been in before. Letting out a bellow of fury from it's three large mouths Cerberus charged forward again, and everyone jumped to the sides to avoid it as it surged forwards, kicking up mounds of dirt as it did.

Now caked with mud themselves, the members of Shepard's crew all unleashed another volley of fire at Cerberus, who flailed about in a rage as so many bullets tore into it's chalk white skin. Lunging forward with it's three heads it attempted to chomp down on Tali and Garrus before the former ducked and the latter was pushed out of the way by Shepard. Cerberus made a swipe with one of it's claws that sent both Shepard and Garrus flying before again attempting to devour Tali, who was now right under the beast.

"Bosh'tet!" Tali growled as she opened fire on Cerberus repeatedly with her shotgun, cursing as it managed to withstand every blast. Blood and mud now covered Tali's suit and she was having to constantly squirm about to keep from being trampled.

"_This is the second thing called Cerberus that I really really hate" _Tali thought bitterly as she was again almost crushed by the monster.

"Grunt, Zaeed help Tali!" Shepard ordered. Nodding, the Krogan and the bounty hunter drew their Assault Rifles and unleashed a merciless torrent at one of the beast's three heads, which eventually collapsed dead after being shot enough, especially after several of the bullets went into it's constantly open mouth. Turning to face Zaeed and Grunt, the two remaining heads let out a deafening howl of rage before Cerberus surged towards them both. Taking a hint, Zaeed and Grunt bolted as Cerberus closed in.

As this happened, some of those kin Lucifer was referring to also burst out of the ground, each of them a giant worm with a toothy maw akin to the heads of Cerberus. Taking aim with their sniper rifles, Legion and Garrus both shot at some of these new monsters, assisted by Shepard using his own Viper Sniper Rifle. Soon most of them slumped over after being shot at enough times, but some remained to try and gobble up the members of Shepard's crew in their massive jaws. One very nearly bit off one of Kasumi's arms before Jack destroyed it with some powerful biotic shockwaves that briefly uprooted the worm and left it vulnerable to assault.

By this point Cerberus was closing in on Garrus and Zaeed, who bolted backwards to get away from it. Undeterred the monster smashed through everything in it's way to reach it's quarry in it's single-minded desire to make them pay for the loss of one of it's heads. Hapless shades were knocked to the sides or else trampled underfoot or even in some cases devoured by the two remaining heads, which snapped them up in an instant. Shepard managed to grab one particular shade and pull her out of the way as Cerberus lunged forward with it's two heads again.

Shepard shot at Cerberus with his Revenant, which managed to bring it's attention to him. Shepard quickly absolved the shade he'd saved just as Cerberus lunged forward towards him. But the commander managed to leap to the side and rolled as Cerberus reached his position. Trying to change directions, the massive beast instead slid dramatically and brushed up against the edge of a river of stomach acids that several souls were currently suffering in. Getting an idea, Shepard ordered Jack, Thane, and Miranda to hit it with as much biotic force as they could manage. They did so and combined their power to unleash a wave of biotic energy akin to what Samara had used on the Collector Base.

The blast of energy managed to be just enough to force Cerberus backwards and into the acid in full. The beast howled in pain as the acid corroded it's skin, and this in turn left it vulnerable to continued assault. After another withering hail of bullets another of the heads slumped over dead.

Roaring as loudly as it could, the remaining head bellowed in anger and bared it's large teeth at Shepard and company as it crawled out of the acid. But with so many against it and two of it's three heads now dead, Cerberus seemed to realize that it was outmatched, and with one last growl of anger turned around and limped away, soon disappearing into the shadows of the third circle.

"That has to be the absolute ugliest thing I ever shot at" Garrus remarked.

"Same here" Zaeed agreed before turning to Miranda: "Your people picked one fucking gross creature to name yourselves after"

"They're not 'my people' anymore" Miranda said contemptuously, remembering with disdain the things she'd learned about Cerberus in recent weeks and how she was now deeply ashamed to have ever been associated with them. "And for the record when they chose the name I'd assume they were thinking of the dog, not that...thing"

"Anyway" Shepard said, interceding. "Now that Cerberus is out of our way I think we should get out of here. I think I can say we've all spent more than enough time in this particular circle for our liking."

"That's for sure" Kasumi said, nodding in agreement. "I'm gonna be washing myself for months after this"

So it was that the group followed Orpheus' shade as he led them out of the third circle and through a golden and copper gate that led into the fourth circle. Right before entering it, Shepard afforded one last look at the perverse and stomach turning sights of hell's third circle.

"To think that a 'sin' so trivial would warrant this kind of punishment" Shepard observed grimly.

"And it's only going to get even worse from here…" Garrus noted.

**Author's Note: Decided to make Ciacco a Volus because all of the souls Shep's absolved so far are humans. Since obviously the other races have members in hell too I figured I could add a little variety. So I went with the Volus. I also broke one of my general rules of never writing out dialects, but I figured this could be one exception.**


	6. Chapter 5: Greed

Chapter 5: Greed

… _I saw multitudes_

_to every side of me; their howls were loud_

_while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push._

_They struck against each other; at that point,_

_each turned around and, wheeling back those weights,_

_cried out: Why do you hoard? Why do you squander?_

_-Inferno_

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after at last leaving the repulsive nightmare that was Gluttony. Upon exiting they saw a crumbling golden bridge leading downwards to an iron gate gilded with more gold. Several shades crowded around this gate, slumped over in a state of despair. As Shepard and company passed them, they could see two demons standing guard over the gates. They were easily over seven feet tall with charcoal colored skin, long twisting black horns and armor that was black and gold. They narrowed their fire-colored eyes upon seeing Shepard and company. No words needed to be exchanged between the two parties for both to realize that a fight was inevitable. So it was that after a brief scuffle the two demons lay dead, bursting into flames as they fell.

"Thank you living ones" a female shade said. "Those demons have tormented us for some time"

"Who are you?"

"I am Clodia. I was a drunkard and gambler in life and for these crimes I am consigned here, in the area between Gluttony and Greed, as those were my chief sins you see, along with many, many affairs for which I will likely eventually be sent even lower into the Inferno. I thank you for getting rid of those demons but in the end it is a small comfort, as I am still damned here"

"Actually I just so happen to have the means to free you"

The shade's tired-looking eyes widened in shock as she heard this. "You do?"

"Yes" and then with a wave of his enhanced omni-tool Shepard absolved Clodia's soul as he had several others already.

"Thank you" Clodia said as she ascended before adding: "If you happen to encounter a man named Cicero, don't bother absolving him. He condemned me in life but still slept in my bed"

"I'll keep that in mind" Shepard noted as Clodia's soul finished ascending and then vanished in a flash of blue light. With this concluded, Shepard pressed one of his armored hands up against the gates and pushed them open. To his surprise the gates did not resist and parted for him and his crew almost immediately. Moving through them, Shepard and his crew entered the next circle. No sooner did they were they confronted with large mounds of machinery turning gears at all times, harvesting more and more minerals from the bowels of the underworld as hot melted gold spewed forth out of the mouths of human shaped statues and into the ground to form a lake of the stuff.

"I have to say I never imagined hell to be so...mechanical" Shepard noted as he and the squad continued to advance through the latest circle of the inferno, seeing as they did how the shades in this circle were trapped in these golden lakes much the same way the gluttons were trapped in the slush and stomach acids in the previous circle, screaming in agony as the hot liquid gold seared their flesh and bones. The ground itself was gilded with silver and gold and with spikes made entirely of the latter also jutting out of the ground. In the center of this circle was a massive structure covered completely in ever-turning gears the color of rusted metal.

"And now we come to Greed" Orpheus remarked. "The Fourth Circle of the Inferno. The realm in which lies both those who hoarded their money and coveted material things above anything else, and also those who were careless with their fortunes and squandered them. Both crimes are punished here in equal amounts, and all the while all the gold there ever was and ever will be will not bring any kind of comfort to these people or do anything to alleviate their suffering"

As the group continued to look on, they indeed saw mounds of gold coins rising up and up in what seemed to be infinite amounts. Hands stuck out of these mountains of gold clawing at thin air in a desperate attempt to escape from their eternal burial beneath the coins as meanwhile hoarders and squanderers fought each other viciously for the piles of gold lying about, never mind that there was nowhere such wealth could be spent in hell. For these people who took to swinging large sacks filled with gold at one another that was of no consequence.

"We still do not understand why organics are so often compelled to take their obsession with material goods to such destructive extremes" Legion observed as it analyzed some squanderers and hoarders continuing to smash the heavy bags of money into one another.

"Gold has a curse to it" a deep voice muttered, catching the attention of Shepard and his crew. Turning, they saw what appeared to be a large golden idol decorated with rubies and emeralds and with arms and fingers like golden tree-branches. Then the same voice spoke again, and now it was clear that it came from the idol itself: "...long has it been able to twist the minds of rational men and turn them into monsters. This circle simply shows such people for what they truly are"

"And who are you?"

"They call me Plutus, God of Wealth. But that is not who I truly am. That is simply the name I have been given after my true one was taken from me, along with my throne and queen"

"So then who are you really?"

"The closer one gets to Lucifer the more forbidden it becomes to speak my real name in the Inferno, but as I can tell you are not friends of the Morning Star I will tell you anyway: I am Hades, once ruler of the Underworld and now just one if it's many prisoners"

"Hades? I thought Orpheus said Lucifer killed you"

"I believed it to be so" Orpheus admitted. "I did not expect Lucifer to show any kind of mercy"

"And he did not" Hades said before turning to face the absolved shade. "I remember you. You came here once while still living in pursuit of your beloved. Tell me: are you reunited with her at last?"

"Soon my lord, soon"

"Bah. I'm not your lord anymore or anyone elses. Lucifer challenged me for kingship of the Underworld ages ago when he was first cast out and sent here. And I lost. As such I was banished to this place, turned into this wretched form and left to be forgotten. The damned here claw at my golden and jewel-encrusted form to no end as all the while I am denied both my realm's throne and the company of my queen Persephone"

As Hades finished saying this the ground rumbled, and next thing Shepard and company knew a small army of shades armed with pistols, assault rifles, and shotguns were in front of them. Many of them wore the armor of the mercenary groups the Eclipse and the Blue Suns, as well as the armor of the Shadow Broker's men. Needless to say, no one was surprised to see these particular individuals in hell, least of all in Greed.

One of the shades, a Turian dressed in the armor of a Blue Suns Commander stepped forward and looked directly at Shepard. "You shouldn't have said the forbidden name. Made it way too easy to find you. Not that it wouldn't have been hard anyway"

"What do you want?" Shepard demanded.

"Lucifer promised us all of the gold here if we could kill you and your friends Commander Shepard" the head shade cocked his assault rifle before adding: "So if you excuse me we're about to collect our biggest paycheck ever"

Miranda felt tempted to facepalm in response. "Don't be dense. What on earth are you going to do with so much gold? Especially when there's absolutely nothing here you can spend it on. You're wasting your time. Let us pass"

"Fuck that. We've all been suffering here for ages now. This is our chance to finally start getting some back!"

And with this declaration the army of shades opened fire with their arsenal of guns, with Shepard and company weathering the assault just long enough to get behind cover as the bullets continued to fly, eating away at the squad's cover and sending chips of metal and rubble flying in all directions. Quite a few of the bullets also hit Hades, but though he roared in pain as he was shot his idol form did not look the least bit visibly injured.

"There's too many" Miranda said. "We'll never be able to fight them all off"

"Me and just any two of you could always take out dozens of these idiots. Imagine what eleven of us could do"

"Do you really want to risk that?" Miranda asked frowning at Shepard's lack of fear in the face of being completely outnumbered and shot at by dozens of people at once.

"I don't see how else we're getting out of here except through them" Shepard pointed out. "And this cover isn't going to hold for much longer so we need to make a choice fast"

It was then that Mordin spoke up: "Think there might be better way" Mordin pointed to large metal containers filled to the brim with gold and jewels being lifted up and carried on a twisting rail that took them to the factory in the center of the circle.

"Might be able to acquire passage to factory by getting into those. Factory good defensive position. Odds of survival higher there"

"We'd need to run to them. It's a risk"

"Don't see any other way" Mordin confessed. "Have no choice. Necessary risk"

"Alright then. On three, I want Jack, Miranda, and Thane to unleash the biggest biotic wave they can at those shades. Then we bolt for the belt and hitch a ride on some of the empty containers. 3…"

As Shepard said this the hailstorm of bullets began to destroy the last of the squad's cover. Grunt became vulnerable first due to his bigger body and growled as bullets struck his energy shields and began to tear through them.

"2...1...NOW!"

Leaping from behind cover, Miranda, Jack, and Thane conjoined their biotic power to unleash a massive wave of energy that knocked most of the attacking shades backwards and into others, allowing Shepard and his squad to make their way to the containers. What shades hadn't been knocked over by the attack opened fire on the squad, but Shepard and his allies returned fire, cutting down several of the shades as their recovering energy shields bore the brunt of the enemy attacks that managed to connect. Finally, they reached some of the containers. The biotics used their powers to help others into them before getting in themselves, with Shepard and Zaeed providing covering fire for everyone else and being the last to get in. As they were carried up into the air and off to the factory, the army of shades continued to shoot at them, but Shepard and his allies now had something of a height advantage, and were able to rain shots down on the shades, cutting down several more.

Eventually, after several more moments of intense gunfire exchanged between the two groups the containers at last came to the factory proper where Shepard and his crew leaped off the containers before their contents were dumped into a smelting pit that waited below. Most were able to land safely, with Thane, Jack, and Miranda using their biotics to ease the descent of the others as well as their own.

"I think you need to put off a few pounds big guy" Jack grumbled as she stopped to catch her breath after expending so much biotic energy. Grunt chuckled in response to this. "It's all muscle"

"Well, I think we managed to get to a more defensible position at the very least" Shepard observed. "Even if those shades follow us here we can better hold them off in this factory then out in the open"

"Yeah, especially with these"

Turning to the source of Garrus' voice, everyone could see him pointing to a weapons rack housing some exotic looking firearms.

"I think I just found us some new toys to play with. I call dibs on this one" As Garrus said this he grabbed a massive silver colored weapon that looked like the Cain mixed with an 18th century human cannon. Embers seemed to dance in the long barrel of the weapon, and it looked like it took a fair bit of effort on Garrus' part just to hold the thing at all.

"Heavier than she looks, but I've still got a good feeling about this one"

"Well then I'm taking this one" Shepard said, grabbing a gun that resembled an Assault Rifle but with a front styled to resemble a bronze dragon's head. Like the weapon Garrus had chosen embers seemed to be ever-present in the gun's barrel, here the yawning tooth-filled mouth of the dragon's head.

"I'm taking this one" Grunt said, greedily grabbing the weapon resembling a shotgun the same way a young child would try to snatch up a toy they coveted. Of course to Grunt there was no better "toy" than a powerful gun with which to blow his enemies away.

"This is an interesting looking weapon" Thane noted as he took a crossbow made of black wood and rusting metal, with cruel spikes jutting out of it's sides.

"It's a crossbow" Miranda said matter-of-factly. "More than a little antiquated at this point in time"

"I doubt it's an ordinary crossbow though" Shepard pointed out. "Might as well take it too"

"Then I suppose I shall bear it for now"

"So this factory's got an armory in it too eh? Looks like we really did make a smart move coming here"

Snarling reverberated through the cavernous space of the factory mere moments after Shepard said this. Turning to the source they saw clambering up the rusting metal walls and black iron ladders several monstrous figures that were two gaunt torsos stuck to one skinny little pair of legs. For each and every one of them one of the two torsos clutched a pile of gold tightly to it's chest while the other's stomach looked to have been carved open, but with nothing inside save blackness.

When it became clear that these monstrous fusions of hoarder and waster were accosting Shepard and his allies they decided it was the perfect time to put their recently acquired armaments to use.

Shepard's new assault rifle unleashed a withering and merciless hail of fiery bullets that tore through any and all of the shades they struck. The others weapons were similarly devastating. Each blast of Grunt's new shotgun unleashed a fiery explosion more appropriate for a grenade than a shotgun blast and doing about as much damage too. There tended to be absolutely nothing left of any shades that were blasted by it.

Once Thane got the hang of the crossbow he was unleashing iron bolts from it as well as he had any bullet from a sniper rifle. And as he looked on each of the iron bolts was successful in putting down it's target, striking with just as much as force and ballistic power as any sniper rifle Thane had ever used. No, this was most definitely _not _an ordinary crossbow.

"Ha!" Grunt bellowed as he blew away another hoarder-waster. "I like these new weapons. They're laying waste to these fools"

"Looks like there's something in this place that's good after all" Garrus quipped as he readied the heavy weapon he'd taken. As he did the inside of the barrel became white hot as the embers within rapidly grew into something much more.

"You all may want to stand back"

No sooner did everyone heed Garrus' warning and backpedal did the Turian unleash the full power of the weapon he had chosen. What followed was a brutal rapid-fire stream of exploding fireballs that sent up so much hellfire and smoke it was blinding to any who dared to look at it. The hoarder-wasters screamed in agony as they were all blown away or else incinerated by the merciless hellfire of the weapon. When the dust settled not even the gold coins the hoarder half had clutched so tightly were spared, having been reduced to black ash.

"...holy fucking shit" Jack breathed in as everyone stared in awe at the destructive power of the weapon. Garrus grinned in response. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I may have found a new favorite gun. You can keep the Cain Shepard. This beauty's all I'll ever need"

"Let's hope these new weapons are enough for whatever comes next" Shepard said before adding: "Come on, there needs to be a way out of here"

"Fool. If there was a way out of hell all would take it"

Turning around, Shepard and his crew saw a broad-shouldered man with chiseled features, close-cropped hair, a round nose, and a stern expression. He was dressed in clothing that Shepard and Miranda recognized as Ancient Roman, and clothes of status too. He even held in his hands a gladius. With him where more of the hoarder-wasters as well as shades from all times, places, and species.

"Kill them! Kill them so we may at last claim our prize!"

What followed was an intense and brutal shootout as another army of shades went at Shepard and his crew, who used the factory as cover while various shades shot at them with everything from bullets to arrows to things Shepard for one had never even seen before. Those with melee weapons rushed in and were swiftly blown away for their troubles.

"I shall be the one to slay you Shepard!" the one man in Roman clothing roared. "_I_ will be the one who has all the gold in hell, and no one else! I am Gessius Florus, and I shall not be denied!"

"Is that right?" Shepard asked as the sound of gunfire filled his ears so much he could barely hear his own voice. "What about all of your partners here?"

"What of them?" Gessius demanded. "They mean nothing to me! They all know how this works! He who deals the death blow claims the prize! And _I_ shall be the one to do it!"

A bullet zipped through the air at that moment and went through Gessius Florus' head and out the other end. He dropped his gladius and fell backwards, his body vanishing into gray-black smoke as it did.

"So much for that" Garrus quipped after seeing that his sniper shot was a kill. As more and more of the shades and hoarder-wasters closed in, the Turian also decided that now was a good time to unleash the heavy weapon again. So it was that he re-drew it, leaped out from behind cover and let fly. Between that and the combined firepower of Shepard and the rest of his squad, none of the shades survived.

"Looks like no one's getting that reward after all" Shepard observed darkly. "Come on. Let's get out of here"

**Author's Note: I figured when doing this crossover that I could have some elements in it that would make it feel more like a piece of actual DLC. And what's a good ME DLC without some cool new weapons am I right? Not to mention that the unique setting of hell allowed me to experiment with some particularly exotic weapon designs.**

**That's everything for now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	7. Chapter 6: Wrath

Chapter 6: Wrath

Upon entering the next circle of Hell, the members of Shepard's squad were all struck with a strong sense of hatred. The air was heavy and stank of some putrid smell, almost like melting tar. The squad could all feel the stench assaulting their nose and going right up to their heads, giving them all headaches in mere moments.

"What's the deal with this place?" Jack grumbled.

"The Fifth Circle of the Inferno, Wrath. Here are condemned those consumed with rage in life, who allowed anger, hatred, and fury to overcome them and dictate their actions. Now they are all cursed to reside forever in a neverending lake of black liquid sludge. The River Styx"

"So _that's_ where the smell comes from" Tali noted. "Even _I _can smell it and I'm sealed up head to toe in this suit of mine"

"Do watch your step" Orpheus' shade cautioned as one of Tali's three-pronged feet was suddenly grabbed by several gaunt pale-skinned arms shooting out of the ground as moaning and snarling filled the air.

"BOSH'TET!" Tali shouted as she started shooting at the arms grabbing at her, destroying them with every burst from her shotgun. Backpedaling she opened fire on the mess of other arms that shot out like a macabre crop that had at last come to rise.

"Passage through this circle will not be quite so easy" Orpheus' shade explained. "We will need to do as my people did in the days of the old world. We must cross via ferry"

"Does Charon take credits?" Miranda asked sarcastically.

"Times have changed" Orpheus replied. "The ferryman Charon now travels along the River Acheron transporting souls of the damned. No, the River Styx is sailed by a different ferryman these days. One who we may just be able to convince with the proper amount of persuasion"

At this a large grayish-green shape resembling a stretched out oval rose out of the black water, covered completely in moss and vines and adorned on the sides with spikes that curved inwards.

"We're riding in _that_?" Tali asked incredulously. "Oh Kheelah"

"Somehow I doubt we'll fare any better swimming" Miranda remarked in a deadpan as she apprehensively stepped onto the "ferry" along with everyone else. No sooner did they all get on was a loud rumbling sound heard over the sounds of the damned's screams and next thing everyone knew they were all jolted up as the thing they were standing on was raised well over twenty feet above the black water.

"What the fuck?" Jack screamed as she very nearly went plummeting over the edge before Thane caught her.

"It is our ferryman" Orpheus explained. "Phlegyas is his name. Like King Minos I did not know him personally but knew of him in life. A son of Ares he was, and a king"

"What's he doing here?" Shepard asked as the giant continued to trudge through the Styx with them on board.

"He was damned to this circle and more specifically forced to be Guardian of the River Styx as punishment for his wrathful behavior in life. He allowed anger to drive him all his life until eventually he reached a bursting point and destroyed a sacred temple. So it was that he was cast down here, cursed to the Styx as all these other souls are. I advise you all to hold on to whatever you can. The trip will be...tense"

"TRESPASSERS!" one shade called out to Shepard and his crew, getting their attention. "Who are you to come here before you time? Who are you to get passage from the worst of us, to observe us like a spectacle? Do you come to gloat? To mock? Come down and face us cowards!"

Jack responded by taking out her pistol and shooting the taunting shade in the face, causing his head to disperse into black-gray smoke followed swiftly by the rest of his body.

"Jack, that was unnecessary" Shepard said.

"He was annoying" Jack defended. "Besides, he wanted a response, I gave him one. No big deal"

"It is when you waste ammunition" Shepard pointed out.

Jack shrugged. "Whatever"

As Phlegyas continued to trudge through the Styx, the yelling and shouts of fury from the damned souls grew louder and more pronounced, and the oppressive smell of burning tar continued to fill the noses, eyes, and heads of Shepard and all of his crew. Every second they continued to spend in the circle was becoming more and more painful, and the inability to do anything about it but just wait was driving them all mad.

"Can't stand this…" Jack grumbled. "And those fuckers down there never shut up!" Indeed, as they continued to cry out in a cacophonous mix of pain, agony, fury, and indignance, Jack finally snapped and took to shooting at the shades again before Miranda grabbed her arm and forced her to stop.

"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF ME!" Jack roared.

"Conserve ammunition Jack, that's an order" Miranda growled.

"I thought it was Shepard who was the one giving orders?" Jack snarled venomously before adding: "...because I ain't taking orders from more than one person"

"Someone has to be second in command and I think it's clear from your childish and psychotic behavior that it couldn't very well be you!" Miranda shot back, her tone and facial expression both becoming one of cold contempt.

"You know I'm getting _**really **_fucking sick of you being so damn high and-"

"Will you both please stop?" Shepard asked in an exasperated tone. "I've had to come in-between you two before and frankly I'm really sick of it. I have better things to do than constantly keeping you two from fighting like a pair of bickering children. You're both adults act like it!"

"I feel I should stress that I have done far better facing down arduous odds by myself" Thane pointed out, anger present in his normally stoic tone. "And that was because I did not have to worry about anyone's well-being but my own" 

"Well if that's what you prefer why not go back to that?" Tali demanded

"I've given it some consideration" Thane said darkly, his atypically severe tone adding a cutting edge to the rather formal wording of his remark.

"Everyone stop it!" Garrus roared, catching everyone's attention. "Something's wrong. This isn't how we act. We never speak this way to each other…"

"It is this particular circle" Orpheus explained. "The gathering of so many enraged souls in one place leaves a negative aura here. Those who stay here soon become hopelessly lost in the throes of rage, lashing out at everything and everyone"

"You don't seem to be doing too bad yourself" Garrus noted, also realizing as he said it that his own tone was becoming somewhat hostile and sarcastic.

"As an absolved soul I am immune to this place's corrupting influence. You all however are not. We must leave this circle quickly before this place brings out anymore of your repressed anger"

"How long until we reach the end of this circle?" Legion questioned, with even the machine's normally dissonant and robotic voice having taken on a clearly agitated edge, like gears that failed to turn properly and instead grinded up against each-other violently.

"Soon. We are nearing the end of the River Styx. Up ahead is the City of Dis. Within those walls are the four lowest circles of the Inferno, where the worst and most truly sinful go"

"Can't wait" Kasumi said with biting sarcasm, irritation filling her voice in place of her usual cheerfulness and good humor.

At long last, Phlegyas came to the end of the river, and submerged himself in it's black waters once more. Wasting no time, all the members of Shepard's crew all practically jumped off of him and ran through the black forest lit up with crimson light as fast as they could.

"Take care" Orpheus' shade warned. "Things will only get more arduous from here on out. And the City of Dis itself is not without protection of it's own"

"Like what?" Shepard asked, his previous irritation having still not completely vanished.

"The Harpies" Orpheus replied bluntly. "Leftovers from the time of the old gods that Lucifer has decided can still be of some use to him. They circle over the city ready to claw at anything in sight. The Gorgons were also sent here after death"

"I assume they can still turn people into stone by looking at them?" Shepard asked.

Orpheus nodded. "Yes"

"Well then I guess we'll just have to stay out of of their line of sight then"

As everyone else continued moving, Shepard paused only to absolve some nearby shades he noticed despairing on the edge of the River Styx who called out to him for mercy and forgiveness. Quickly granting the shades of Boudica, Hecuba, and others their request, Shepard took one last look out at the River Styx and the shades who continued to suffer in it before turning back and running off after the others, glad to be as far away from that angry place as possible.

**Author's Note: Short chapter I know, but there wasn't much to this part of the Inferno I felt, at least not as much as the other parts. Regardless the next few chapters will all be much, much longer, so hopefully that will even things out.**


	8. Chapter 7: Heresy

Chapter 7: Heresy

Several battles with the harpies later and Shepard and his squad had come up to the very front of the City of Dis. There were no gates barring entrance, only the various monstrous guardians who all now lay dead courtesy of the combined firepower of Shepard's squad. Knowing they wouldn't stay that way for long Shepard and his group cautiously advanced through the open entrance to the Sixth Circle of the Inferno, the halls of which glowed a fiery orange.

"We now enter the tombs of heresy" Orpheus observed grimly. "Those claimed to adhere to a faith but had ideas that conflicted with the mainstream. Here they burn for their radical ideas"

"That's so unfair!" Tali protested. "My people have always believed in different interpretations of our faith. To punish people who disagree with you in such a way...it's awful"

"I am afraid that it only becomes worse from here" Orpheus' shade said sadly. Indeed, as the squad stepped into the long hallway that resembled the inside of a medieval dungeon they could see endless throngs of people crying out in pain as their corpse-like bodies were wreathed in fire that brought them pain but did not incinerate them, ensuring that their suffering would never end. And incredibly even with so much hellfire the tombs were still only partially lit, with the upper half of the area still cloaked in shadow. 

As they walked through the hallways, Shepard made sure to absolve some of the souls, though a part of him wished he could absolve them all. Those he freed from their torment included Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, a pair of Epicureans who believed that the soul died with the body, an Asari Matriarch who challenged longstanding practices and ideas of the mainstream faith, and Salarian scientists who sought religion without swearing loyalty to any specific one, instead claiming that all had some measure of validity.

While this was happening, Miranda could hear Lucifer's voice whisper into her ear: "Closer and closer you and your friends come to my domain in the lowest circle. And closer and closer you and your friends come to ruin followed by eternal damnation. Have you reconsidered my offer" 

"_Never_" Miranda spat.

Lucifer chuckled, but his laugh and voice could be heard only by Miranda now. "Such passion and defiance. Oh how I will so enjoy bending you to my will. I will impregnate you with my brood and from this create a new lineage to carry on my...work"

"_**Never**_" Miranda repeated, now desperate to force the disgusting image of Lucifer turning her into his slut out of her head.

"Much like your commander and lover you presume you have a choice. But I decide how things go here. And I have decided that you will be mine. It's only a question of whether your friends will suffer forever in this place with you or not"

Miranda snarled but said nothing further. Mercifully Lucifer's voice seemed to fade away but she suspected that was only because he had lost interest in threatening her at that particular moment. Quickening her pace, Miranda stood next to Shepard just as he finished absolving another condemned heretic, this one a Prothean of all people.

"It's sad that all of my encounters with protheans have been with some broken remnant of them" Shepard observed as the absolved Prothean's soul disappeared in a flash of blue light. 

Miranda wasn't sure it was a good idea to ask what Shepard what she wanted to ask, but ultimately felt that she needed to know as Lucifer's taunting brought back the painful memories of Shepard's words in the previous circle.

"Shepard, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Miranda what is it?"

"Back in Wrath, when you yelled at me and Jack did you…?" 

"Mean what I said back there?" Shepard sighed deeply. "I'll admit I don't enjoy always having to play peacemaker between everyone. There are times when I really wish everyone could just learn to get along without me. But I suppose that's maybe asking for too much. Miranda, I love you and even if I hate it when you and Jack bicker, or when any of the others fight for that matter, that doesn't mean I hate you as people. I still care about you and want you in my life. And that will never change"

Miranda looked away from Shepard as he said this and he in turn put one of his hands on her shoulder. "I'm sorry if I hurt you. I was just so angry I wasn't myself back there. None of us were. If I'd been in control I'd have never said that"

"I can appreciate that Shepard" Miranda said before adding: "I was hardly acting like a saint there myself. Not that I ever was one" 

Shepard smiled. "No one's perfect, no matter what genes you were given. But if you ask me that's for the best. Like I once said, you're human just like the rest of us. And that's what makes you great"

Miranda smiled warmly in response to Shepard's kindness. "That's...that's sweet of you to say Vergil. Thank you"

Unfortunately though as Miranda said this she could again hear Lucifer's insufferable chuckle ringing in her ears. "How touching. But you will not need his love or approval when this over. You will have my presence to grace you with instead"

"_I'd rather die a hundred times" _Miranda thought, her face turning into a vicious scowl as he did. Seeing this, Shepard asked her if something was wrong. 

Miranda breathed deeply and answered: "Yes. Lucifer. He speaks to me and only me. He's been taunting me, telling me that we're destined to fail here. But more than that he's...he's offered a deal with me"

"What deal?"

"That he'll let you and the others go if I become his...his…" Miranda pursed her lips and took on a look as if she was being ordered to swallow poison before at last spitting out with contempt: "..._bride_. I told him I'd never do it."

"Good to know" Shepard said. "No way am I letting the devil steal my girl"

Miranda couldn't help but burst out laughing at that. "How incredibly chivalric of you to defend my honor" Miranda teased.

Shepard returned the smile behind his helmet. "I'm totally serious though. I'm never letting him hurt you. Ever" 

As the squad continued to move, they caught sight up ahead of several figures dressed in tattered burgundy colored robes with a gold trim. They were all of a gaunt frame and with bony hands that tightly grasped long black staves topped with either a ram's skull or a pentagram, with a few others still have symbols that were less easy to identify. Lastly they all had hoods pulled up over their heads, with many also wearing a mask over their faces or another ram's skull.

"Who are they?" Shepard asked.

"Men and women who sought to be rewarded in hell rather than punished. More specifically practitioners of dark and forbidden magics long since lost to history. And just as well at that"

"So more enemies to crush?" Grunt scoffed. "Those rags they wear won't give them any kind of protection" the Krogan hefted his Assault Rifle and took aim. "Can I kill them Shepard?" 

Seeing Shepard's squad approaching them and in particular Grunt aiming his rifle at them, the robed men and women each stretched out a hand and from it erected a massive barrier of energy in front of them that seemed to burn like the fires the heretics were consumed in but also paradoxically looking clear and without color, like a fire that was trapped inside a glass window.

"I'm pretty sure they just conjured up a shield" Shepard said. "I don't want to waste any ammo trying to bring it down. I'm open to other ideas"

"Could try overloading it through other means" Mordin suggested. "Of course field magic, so scientific strategies useless. But then magic is merely unexplained science, incredible events in need of proper reasoning. But what reasoning for this? Hmm, curious, most curious…"

"We need _ideas _Mordin not tangents" Tali said in an exasperated tone.

"Magic likely just previously unknown form of energy" Mordin pointed out. "Could find way to manipulate ener-"

Mordin was cut off when one of the robed men unleashed a fireball from his skeletal hand at the Salarian Scientist's head and Thane dived forward to push him out of the way, causing the fireball to sail over their heads and off into the distance. This attack was soon followed by several more fireballs as well as bolts of lightning, several of which connected before Shepard and his squad could move out of the way in time, the crippling bolts short-circuiting their shields and prompting them all to seek cover behind the pillars lining the burning tombs. The lightning bolts collided with the black rock and sent chunks of it flying in all directions.

As the squad continued to stay behind this cover, Shepard's mind raced with different ideas for how they could get past their enemy's defense. They could try shooting at it until it fell but that could end up being a great big waste of precious ammunition, and Shepard knew the lowest parts of hell would no doubt be the worst as far as fighting went. But then what were the alternatives?

Then Shepard remembered what the archangel had told him: how his enhanced omni-tool could not just absolve souls but also smite hell's legions. Could he use it to get past the force-field? It seemed like a possibility, but what if it didn't work? Shepard will have thrown himself right up against his enemies, and be a sitting duck.

In the end though, Shepard decided he had to take the risk. He turned to his squad: "All of you unload everything you have on that shield and cover me. I'm going in"

"Are you insane?" Miranda protested.

"The archangel said my enhanced omni-tool can smite hell's legions. I'm about to test that theory"

And so with a silent prayer in the depths of hell, Shepard leaped out from behind cover and went straight for the force-field. Using his omni-tool arm as he would if he was employing the Omni-Blade, Shepard was pleased to see a glowing blue sword blade come to life in lieu of the standard omni-blade. With a roar Shepard slashed at the shield and allowed himself a slight smirk of satisfaction as it cleaved right through it like it was nothing. As it happened the conjurers reeled back in shock, clearly just as surprised as Shepard was. Wasting no time, Shepard seized on their moment of distraction to carve into them with his angelic blade, with each of his victims howling in pain and bursting into flames as they were struck. Shepard's allies pitched in with gunfire from behind cover to ensure that any Shepard missed were still cut down.

As the last one crumbled to dust after being shot by Thane, Shepard decided to nevertheless keep his angelic blade out just in case anymore surprises showed up.

In fact they did as the group continued to make their way through the burning tombs. Going past a large door made of darkened wood with a ram's skull hanging over the head the squad came upon a library that was filled with rows upon rows of dust-covered books. The mostly dark room was partly illuminated by burning bodies nailed to the walls screaming out in pain.

"What is this place…?" Shepard asked Orpheus' shade.

"In truth this is one part of the Inferno that I do not have much knowledge of. If I to hazard a guess, as we are still in Heresy this place here is where ideas that would be considered heretical are kept. Epicurean ideas, atheist beliefs, theories and hypotheses that dared to challenge the mainstream interpretation of the faith...I suspect all such works are kept here to be damned and forgotten along with their authors"

"Why would Lucifer care about that sort of thing anyway?" Zaeed asked. "I mean I don't think he's exactly big on God either" 

"He doesn't care" Orpheus replied simply. "He's simply looking for an excuse to punish as many souls as he can. And this is one such excuse he has used to justify what you see here" Orpheus pointed to the burning souls who continued to suffer.

"I'm going to absolve them" Shepard decided. But as he walked up to the shades nailed to the upper walls horrendous shrieking could be heard before several more of the same robed figures as before materialized. And this time they were not alone.

Flying in through openings in the ceiling were massive bronze-skinned monsters dressed in crimson and gold and with large brown leather wings sprouting of their backs and long twisting horns coming out of their hands. They held in each of their hands a wicked looking axe with a blade around the size of Shepard's head and also a flaming sword with a hilt styled to resemble bone.

"The Archfiends" Orpheus said in a grave tone. "They were among the original fallen who followed Lucifer in his failed rebellion. Now they join him here in the Inferno where they continue to serve him as his greatest minions. Use caution"

No sooner had Orpheus finished his sentence where the Arch-Fiends upon Shepard and his allies, attacking them head-on while the robed figures stood back and unleashed blast after blast of merciless lightning. Fortunately, they did not conjure up another protective field, and as such it was a simple matter for Shepard and his allies to blow them away.

The Arch-Fiends were a different story. One effortlessly hit Garrus so hard he went flying several feet into the air before crash-landing and gasping in pain. He tried to force himself back up to no avail and seeing his vulnerability several of the robed men converged on him.

"Get away from him!" Tali shouted, rushing in to blast the robed figures away with her shotgun and using her drones to assist her in this respect. Meanwhile, another Arch-Fiend tried to skewer Grunt on his flaming sword, but this time the Krogan was ready for the weapon and side-stepped out of it's way with ease. A few blasts of his recently acquired shotgun later and he forced the Arch-Fiend to backpedal. Roaring in fury, the Arch-Fiend tackled Grunt and incredibly managed to force the Krogan to the ground in short order, soon pinning him and holding his head still as he raised his axe over his head in the other hand.

Legion shot the Arch-Fiend in the face with his sniper rifle, which took out one of it's burning eyes and caused it to roar in fury. Changing it's attentions to Legion it soared towards him and swatted Legion's sniper rifle out of it's hands. Another strike of the axe later and one of Legion's arms was nearly taken clean off.

"LEGION!" Tali shouted, briefly turning her attention away from Garrus. This proved to be a near-fatal error as one of the robed men took advantage of her distraction to hit her in the back with a powerful blast of electricity. Tali cried out in pain and fell to her knees as the electricity coursed through her suit and threatened to damage it beyond any hope of recovery. Now Tali, Garrus, and Legion were all down.

Upon seeing Legion nearly lose his arm Shepard wasted no time attacking the Arch-Fiend with everything he had, and managed to get it's attention. By this point the thing was shedding blood the color of oil all over it's muscular torso and it's armor was badly damaged. Knowing it wouldn't take much to finish it off Shepard silently goaded the Arch-Fiend to come at him, and it did. Timing it just right, Shepard waited for it to get close enough that he was able to pop out his Angelic Blade in time to run the Arch-Fiend through.

The blade went through it's armored torso like a hot knife through butter. The Arch-Fiend gasped and coughed up black blood before slumping over dead. Pulling out his Angelic Blade, Shepard narrowly ducked under the swing of another Arch-Fiend's flaming sword, but not the follow-up, which dispelled his energy shields the second it brushed up against his armor. It also knocked him back a fair distance.

With a roar of homicidal fury Jack unleashed the most powerful biotic wave she could muster to finish off the last of the robed men and also force the remaining Arch-Fiends back. 

As it stood three of them remained, and they proved to be no less easy to kill than their fellow had been. Again Grunt found to his horror that one was able to easily knock him about with just the sheer force of it's blows, and it was all he could do to keep from being cut to ribbons. Miranda, Thane, Mordin, Kasumi, and Jack all working in concert could only keep another back with their combined gunfire and biotic power while meanwhile Shepard and Zaeed were left to defend their injured comrades from the last of the Arch-Fiends.

Zaeed unleashed a fierce torrent of assault rifle fire, all the while screaming defiantly as the Arch-Fiend stood it's ground against the hailstorm and began to slowly but surely advance on Zaeed and Shepard's position. Deciding that a better strategy was required, Shepard told Zaeed to keep the Arch-Fiend busy while he circled around it, all the while peppering it with fire from his recently acquired Assault Rifle that he'd named the Dragonfire Assault Rifle. As it stood the withering hail of flaming bullets clearly got the Arch-Fiend's attention, and the combined fire of two assault rifles hitting it at once soon began to take it's toll, with oil-colored blood seeping out of the Arch-Fiend's body same as the last one. 

Deciding to take his chances, Shepard rushed forward and ducked underneath the Arch-Fiend's expected attack with his flaming sword. Jumping up as he finished sliding under the flaming sword Shepard again activated his Angelic blade and ran this Arch-Fiend through much as he had the first one. And as was the case before he succeeded in killing it.

Grabbing the Arch-Fiend's axe as it fell, Shepard aimed it at the one that was bearing down on Grunt and hurled it. The axe went briefly sailing through the air before then embedding itself in the side of the Arch-Fiend's head. The Arch-Fiend howled in pain and it's burning eyes widened in shock before it too slumped over. Grunt turned to Shepard as his opponent died and frowned at how Shepard had killed the Arch-Fiend in his place.

"Don't give me that look Grunt you owe me" Shepard then pointed to the rest of the squad, who currently had their hands full with the last Arch-Fiend. "Help them"

Grunt grumbled but nevertheless nodded and rushed over to where the others were and began blasting away at the Arch-Fiend with his weapon right alongside the others. Between all of them they finally succeeded in killing the Arch-Fiend, who collapsed after being shot a truly gratuitous number of times.

"Let's hope there are no more where these things came from" Miranda noted, also daring to let out a gasp for breath as exhaustion at last began to set in. Walking over to where the others were, Mordin got to work assessing the injuries of Tali, Garrus, and Legion. Mordin quickly concluded that Garrus was fine and that it was Legion and Tali who's conditions were much more serious.

"Not good" Mordin said bluntly but also with a clear urgency. "Tali's suit compromised. Needs to be fixed immediately or potentially lethal contraction of diseases iminent"

"Can you fix it?" Shepard asked.

"Checking...good, good. Anti-biotics still present, most of them undamaged. Unfortunately rest of suit's functions appear to be short-circuited. No, cannot fix. Damage too extensive, not enough resources, not enough knowledge. Hopeless. Hopeless attempt…"

"It would seem one of your friends is at death's door Commander Shepard" came a most unwelcome voice. Sure enough there was Lucifer floating in the center of the library with a smug look on his face. "And here in the sixth circle of the Inferno no less. Tsk, tsk. That won't be good for her I can assure you of that"

"How dare you…" Miranda growled, aiming her pistol at Lucifer, even though she knew full well it wouldn't do a thing. But at that moment her growing anger overrode her usual tendency to let rational behavior guide her every action.

"Oh but I do my dear. And in fact I dare also to cut another deal: accept my original offer and I will restore your friend's health"

"Never" Shepard growled. "I'm not making another botched deal with you"

"Is that so? Well then I hope you can rest easy with the knowledge that your friend is about to become a permanent resident of my humble domain"

"Not so Prince of Darkness" Orpheus' shade spoke up. "You are not the only one here with the power to heal. And I dare say I can give her better, truer healing than you ever could"

Lucifer burst out laughing. "You? An absolved shade? Please. You wouldn't have it in you"

"Try me" Orpheus said before then going to Tali's injured body and placing his hands above her. As he did they glowed even more brightly than before until soon they were like a pair of small stars that bathed Tali's inert body in a bright light. This lasted for but a few moments before Tali jolted up with a gasp. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but then noticed that Orpheus' previous brightness was fading as he became dimmer and dimmer…

"I'm afraid you will have to make the rest of your journey through the Inferno alone Commander Shepard" Orpheus' shade said weakly. "That took everything I had. It is time for me to return to Elysium now" 

"But what about the last three circles?" Shepard questioned. "How will we be able to know what we're up against?"

"I believe your mechanical friend can probably give you what little knowledge you will need to make it through. But that's just it: I do not think you need anything more than what you already possess Shepard. You and your friends are true heroes if ever I saw them. You can brave what the last third of Hell has to offer. I know you can"

And then, with one last gasp Orpheus' shade rose up into the air and then in one last flash of bluish-white light vanished completely, his soul gone for the Elysium Fields.

"How very touching" Lucifer remarked coldly. "But it matters little. He may have given your friend a second chance, but I can assure you it will all be for nought. The last three circles of hell are where they are for a reason. And if you could barely make it through this, what hope of you going forward?"

And then with one last callous cackle Lucifer vanished.


End file.
